The Return Of A Heart
by roughridinkas
Summary: One phone call can change the life you were living. The past has a way of sneaking up on you when you were least expecting it. Ranger is forced to deal with his past. There will be an HEA but not telling who as of right now.
1. Chapter 1

Disclaimer :If you recognize the names they belong to JE. Some are mine who just wanted to have a little play time with JE's gang. Not being paid just having fun.

Rangers POV:

Ever wake up knowing something is going to happen that will change your life. Change things so that your plan that you had worked out for yourself won't work anymore. That's where I'm at right now. I'm sitting up in my bed gasping to catch my breath. Not sure what woke me up or what was wrong but something in my gut was screaming at me that there was something wrong. I looked over at the clock and noticed it was slightly before 5am and figured I might as well just get up and start my day. I slide over to the edge of my bed and drop my head in my hands trying to figure out what it is that has me so strung out. Just as I'm about to say screw it and get moving, I feel the bed next to me shift. I look over and see a mass of curly brown hair peaking out from under the blanket, Steph. The sight before me brings a flash of a memory that I haven't thought of in quite some time.

_I'm sitting on the bed getting ready to leave. I turn and look at the small body that I was just curled up around. Dark brown hair poking out from under the blankets. _

_She sifts around so she's now facing me. Her silky hair falling across her face just slightly. Her face makes her look so much younger. Not that we're very old to begin with. But the troubles of the world fade off her face while she's sleeping. _

_She latches onto the pillow I was using and takes a deep breathe then sighs into the pillow and relaxes some more. _

_I know what I'm about to do in the next few minutes will crush her more than anyone else and I shouldn't do it. The problem is she scares me. The feelings she opens up within me while we're together scare the crap out of me. I don't know how to deal with it._

_ I never realized that I could feel this way towards her. We've known each other for years. Been best friends, inseparable most of the time. Hell she grew up in my parents house._

_ Here I am about to walk out the door on her. To disappear into the world of the Army just to get lost for awhile, to put space between her and these feelings inside me._

_ I lean over and kiss her forehead one last time, apologizing for doing this and wish her the best of luck in life. She has had a very hard life and I can only hope and pray that what i'm about to do doesn't set her back from the progress she's made over the years._

_ I stand up and toss my clothes back on and walk to the door. As i'm about to walk out, I turn to take one last look at the one and only love of my life, laying asleep in the comforts of her bed. Wishing I could be the man she deserves, one who doesn't run away because he's scared of the what if's of life. _

_I close the door and run out of the house as fast as I can. I kept running until I reached my cousins house._

_ I climb up the tree that will bring me next to his open window. Its late and I know he's sound asleep._

_ I climb thru his window and walk quietly over to his bed to wake him up. _

_"Les man come on wake up. Its time. Come on man wake up." He stirs and then sits up. While rubbing his eyes he asks " Los man whats up? What are you doing here so late? Where are we going?" _

_I tell him while grabbing his back, "you remember all the talk about joining the Army? Well its time lets go. I checked yesterday and filled out all the paperwork for us. The bus leaves in about 2 hrs. If you don't get your ass in gear we're gonna miss it and then be in deep shit."_

_ He jumps from his bed and tosses on his clothes. I head for the window with him following behind me. Les has always followed me. Be right by my side step for step. _

_As we get out on the street and head down town to the bus station he finally asks me the question I was hoping he wouldn't, "what about little one? Where is she? I thought she would want to see us of." _

_I sighed and turned to him looking him in the eye, "she's sleeping. I didn't tell her we were leaving. I left her a note to tell her that we were going into the Army to make something of ourselves that she would be proud of. It will be better on her this way instead of being awake at this hour crying over us leaving."_

_ I turn and start walking again praying that he will accept that explanation and drop it. I don't want him to know that I'm running away. I look back at him and see he's following me but is clearly lost in thought. _

_We get to the bus stop and I see the recruiter standing next to the door going thru some paperwork. I grabbed our folders out of my backpack and walk over to him._

_ I hand him the folders that have all mine and Les' paperwork for us to be sent to boot camp. He looks over it briefly and then looks up at my and Les. _

_"You boys ready for this? Its gonna be the ride of your life."_

_ We both nod and say "yes sir" at the same time._

_ "Alright boys get your asses on the bus. Your the last ones and then we can leave." _

_We get on the bus and find seats. I look out the window and towards the part of town where I left my heart. In bed still with her._

_ My eyes well up with tears and I let a few of them fall. I close my eyes and take a deep breathe reminding myself this is for the best. She will forget me and my cowardly ways. She will move on. She will find what makes her happy in life and thrive at it. So determined, so feisty, so brave and strong. I whisper softly "adiós mi amor, mi corazón, mi alma, mi compañera." (my love, my heart, my soul, my mate)  
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I shake my head to clear the memory when i felt the bed next to me shift. The memory of that night so long ago replaying almost exactly the same way. However, I'm not leaving for the military this time. I get up and head to the gym. I need to blow off some steam and figure out what has me so wound up.

I get down to the gym and jump on the treadmill. Running always clears my head and allows me to think clearly. I start to think over all the people in my life. My friends Tank, Bobby, Lester my cousin, but I couldn't come up with anything. Nothing has changed in their lives that I could think of. There was nothing overly dangerous for them going on.

I thought about my company and the same applied there. Nothing. Things were working smoothly. My next thoughts were of my parents and other siblings. I don't talk much to my parents. Haven't since before I joined the Army. Same goes for most of my siblings. Thinking of them brings back memories of my lost friend. I wonder where she is, what she's doing, how she's doing. I have to stop thinking about these things. She's in the past. That's where she needs to stay. This brings me to the woman currently asleep in my bed. Oblivious to the world going on around her right now, Steph. My babe. I sigh as I slow down the machine I'm one. Steph's been pushing me lately more and more about having a committed relationship with her. She wants more than the friendship we have. We're friends, co-workers, and occasionally bed partners. I love her as a friend. A good friend at that. I know she'll never screw me over. I can trust her completely. She's in love with me I see it in her eyes when she looks at me. Makes me wonder if its me that she's in love with or the thought of me. A hero worshiping type of love. I'm the best at what I do. I have to be because there is no one else out there who can do it. I'm able to shut off my emotions because I feel like I have no heart. I left it all those years ago sleeping in bed next to a spit fire of a young woman.

I need to stop this thing with Steph. She needs to move on and find someone who can love her back completely. Its not me that's for sure. She's a beautiful woman that's for sure. She could have any guy she wanted except for me. I haven't broken things off between us because I know it will break her heart. She's a good friend. I don't want her hurt and I know that if I come clean with her she will be. I stop my thinking and head for the showers. I looked at the clock on the wall and noticed that its almost 8 am. I've been down here for almost 3 hours lost in thought. I need to get on with my day. I figured I would shower down here to limit the possibility of having to face Steph and her wanting to join me in the shower. After having thought after my lost love so much I just can't face Steph right now. I'm afraid that I will say or do something to hurt her. After my shower I head to my office to get my morning reports before heading to the morning meeting with my core team.

I walk into the conference room and see everyone there. Tank and Bobby are sitting at the table while Lester is pacing back and forth in front of the window. I close the door and ask "something the matter Santos? Somewhere better to be than here?" "No man, just this weird feeling that I can't figure out or shake." This stops me in my tracks and I just stare at him. We've been side by side together for so many years that he gets a lot of the same feelings I do on situations. But for him to come right out and admit it tells me something is different this time. I wonder if he's picking up the same thing I am. I'm broken from my thoughts by Tank clearing his throat and saying "alright whats going on here Rangeman, both you and Santos are acting strange. 1st with your longer than normal work out this morning and now with your reactions towards hearing Santos' comment. Something is off today what gives?" "I'm not sure what it is. But it doesn't matter right now. Now is the time to get to work. Here are the copies of the morning reports. We have anything on the table today that I need to know about?" "Nope all clear today bossman" replies Bobby. "Alright dismissed get to work." I leave the room and head to my office to get started on my paperwork.

Around noon I'm save from my mountains of paperwork by a knock on my door.

"Enter" comes my quick reply. I lean back in my chair as Steph walks into my office. She comes and sits on my desk in front of my chair.

"I missed you this morning. You didn't come back up for breakfast."

" Sorry babe. I had too much work to get done this morning. What are you up to today?" She's silent for a moment and I look into her eyes and see there's something she wants to ask but she's not sure if she should. She always things I have ESP but she's just so easy to read. She doesn't understand how she has all this little tell tale signs about almost everything. I try for a joke to get her to speak to me "That busy really? Wow I think I should have a talk with your boss. Seems he's working you too much or something." It gets her to laugh a bit and she lets out a breath on a sigh. Just the reaction I was looking for.

"So whats on your mind today?" She jumps off the desk and sits down on my lap, "Whats going on between us Ranger? I mean where do we stand with each other?" I let out a sigh not something I normally do around others. I look her in the eye and decide to just let my words fly without giving them much thought. Go with the flow for once.

"Why do you need to keep pushing me on this topic? What is so important about defining what we have between us? If I answer your questions you push on me then its out there. Its defined what we are. Then start the what if's. What if I told you an answer you didn't like and you ran out of the building right in front of a bus. What good will it do to start with what if's? They change things. I like things how they are and don't want them changed. I like living in the moment without the what if's floating around our head's. Does that make sense? I just want to be in the moment right now. Not worry so much about what tomorrow will bring." She's sitting on my lap with a puzzled look on her face.

I wonder if I scared her a bit with all that I said. She opens her mouth then closes it as if she doesn't quite know what to say. "Alright if that's how you want to work things then sure I guess I can handle that." Comes her reply while looking down at her hands. I can tell she's not happy with what I said so I try to help her understand a bit more.

"Steph you've told me that you don't know if you want to get married again. I told you the same back a couple years ago about how my love doesn't come with a ring but a condom might come in handy. That was my way of saying that I don't want to get married. Not now and i'm pretty sure I won't in the future either. You've told me and everyone else that you don't know if you want kids. Great because to be completely honest with you neither do I. I have a daughter that I barely know. I've tried to change that, to get to know her more. But the fact is she was unplanned. An accident. I was dunk, stupid, and young. Releasing built up frustration for a night. When I joined the Army I decided I didn't want children that I might one day not come home to. I knew what I was getting into and it wasn't fair to them. I still feel that way. Don't get me wrong I love my daughter very much. A child, a precious gift, but I'm not parent material." I hope that she understands a bit more now without me having to relive the past more than I already have. I'm not ready to deal with that. The only person who knows about everything is Les. Steph looks me in the eyes looking for something. I'm not sure what exactly but she must have found it because now she's smiling.

"Your right Ranger. We'll live in the moment. I never thought of it as you have put it. I'm sorry I've been pushing the issue. I know you love me, in your own way as you put it." She then sticks her tongue out at me and then continues "but your way is all you know and that's all I can ask for." She leans forward and kisses me softly while I thank god that she accepted what I said. I'm just not ready to tell her that I love her but I don't think I will ever be in love with her.

We're broken from our kiss by a knock on the door and the 3 stooges come in before I tell them to.

"What am I in the wrong office since you guys feel the need to just come in on your own?"

"Nah Rangeman. You guys have been locked in here long enough we figured it was time for a breather." States Tank with a chuckle at the end while sitting down on my couch. Bobby and Les take the chairs and sit down in them while Steph snuggles deeper into my lap.

Les starts in with his wise cracks to Steph. She throws them right back to him. Before we know it all five of us are laughing so hard we almost have tears streaming down our faces.

My intercom buzzes and I try to gather myself before hitting the button, "Speak!"

"Um boss there's a call for you on line 2. He said his name is JJ and that you better get your quote scrawny ass on the phone."

"Alright Hal thanks." Les hears who is on the line and says "Man you better put him on speaker phone so I can chew his ass about the last time I saw him! He'll get his payback I promise!." I had to laugh at that. JJ and Les were always trying to one up each other. I hit my speakerphone button for line 2 and say "My scrawny ass, what you mean my scrawny ass. I'll show you my scrawny ass Big bro! How you been JJ?"

The only reply I get is a low sad sounding "Los." I think my heart stopped after hearing him. JJ is my oldest brother. We don't talk much but we are good together. He is always there when I need him just as I am for him. I look up at Les and see his eyes are wide open. I'm sure I have the same look in mine.

Steph is sitting stunned on my lap. I haven't told her about my family or who they are at all. Tank knows a good chunk about my family but not all. Bobby just knows that I'm the baby of the family and that I don't talk to anyone much.

"JJ whats wrong man? Talk to me."

"I need you here with me Los. Wheres Les? I think he needs to be here as well."

Les speaks up "I'm here cuz tell me what you need and its done you know that."

"I need you guys here like a month ago."

"Alright big bro you need just us or a team? Give me an idea of what you need so we can get off the ground" I tell him.

"I'm gonna need a full team. My team is too close to this and I don't want to take any chances. The same will go for you and Les I'm sure. Once you get here and I tell you whats going on completely. You don't need to worry about all your toys. We have more than enough here for you guys to make use of."

His statement has me wondering what is going on if he and his team are "to close to this" and that Les and I will be as well. I understood what he meant about toys. Weapons. He said full team I'm wondering how full so I ask.

" As many as you can spare will be the best I think. There's all different kinds of things that will need to be done so those without the clearance will still have things that can be done to clear up time for those who have clearance."

This really has my mind racing. So its something close to home but yet government sanctioned. Must be something with his team. He's a Navy Seal going on 30 years of service here soon. Must mean one of his team mates are in trouble. But why didn't he go to his handler. They would've contacted me I'm sure. Its not unusual for me to have to go in to bail out other special force members. So I ask him.

"Because this mission was from the top of the chain. No one was told of the information except for a select few. One of those if something happens we know nothing of it type things. Well something happened. Last check in was almost 2 months ago. A month is normal but anything more than a month and half its a sure thing something went wrong." Came JJ's reply.

"Alright big bro just hold tight we'll be on our way shortly. I'll bring a team of ten with me. Any requirements as to who you don't want?" I ask as a last quick question.

He hesitates for a moment but answers " only those who you trust completely and you have no problem with. I know that you haven't many people about issues from your past if you've told anyone at all. So keep that in mind. Those you trust the most and know will understand things that might be hard to understand. You know about me and what that could mean. I'm gonna jump off here and get things ready for you and your team to arrive. I'll have someone waiting for you at the airport. My man Hawk will be in touch with your pilot to make sure you get where you need to properly."

"Alright man just hold on we're on our way. Where exactly are we heading? I never know where you might be crashing at these days."

He laughs lightly and says " Virginia man, we're in Virginia for the time being." He then hangs up and I'm left stunned.

I have no clue what is going on and I don't like that. I like having as much information as possible and he really didn't tell me much accept for a few warnings. At first I had thought about bringing Steph with us but I'm not to sure if that's such a good idea. I look at her. I noticed now that either she moved or I moved her off my lap at some point. I'm not sure which one it was. She was now sitting on the couch next to Tank with a complete look of confusion on her face.

"Do it man. You know you want to and need to just to get things straightened out between you. I see that look on your face. Don't second guess it. There's only one person I can think of that this is about. I know your confused and can't figure it out because your brain doesn't want you to figure it out. I knew the moment JJ said that it was gonna hit close to home for us. Then he mention bringing up the past. It explains the feeling we've both had today. There's only one person in our entire life time that has affected us both the same way at the same time. You know I'm right on this" states Les while looking me hard in the eyes.

When he looks at me like this I can't help but wonder if he doesn't hate me a bit for me dragging him off to the Army and leaving her alone. He's right though. Now that I think of it there is only one person this could be about. But how did she get lined up with JJ is the question I have now. But that will have to wait for another time. We need to get organized and leave.

Its only a short flight to Virginia from here but more time sitting here talking the longer its gonna take to get things figured out. "Tank I need you to get Cal, Ram, Hector, Woody, and Boots into the conference room for a briefing. I'm gonna call up the pilot and get him on the move so that we can get off the ground in the next 2 hours." He nods and leaves. "Bobby, pack light. JJ's got a full medical set up and his own doc just in case but pack what you might think you'll need for possible situations. Sounds like a mission gone bad so keep that in mind while trying to pack light and fast. Conference room in 10."

"On it boss!" Came his reply as he headed out the door.

I lean on my knees with my head in my hands.

"Ranger whats going on? Who was that one the phone? Your leaving? For how long?" I look up at Steph and wonder how to handle those questions and this situations.

I look to Les to see if he has any ideas and he just stares into my eyes like he was a moment ago. "Babe" I let a small sigh out " The person on the phone was my oldest brother JJ. He's a Navy Seal. I'm not sure exactly whats going on but I have a feeling that a person from mine and Lester's past is in trouble. JJ asked for our help, which he doesn't do very often, but when he does it means its bad. So I don't know how long we'll be gone. I'll be honest with you. I know that you coming with is such a great idea but if you want to you can."

" Why don't you think its a great idea? I've helped you before with things. Do you think I won't be able to handle this? Is that why you don't want me to go?"

I knew this was gonna take longer than I wanted it to. With a small tip of a smile I tell her "No I'm sure you can handle anything thrown at you. Your gonna probably end up learning things about my past. I'm sure some of it will hurt and bother you but you'll be able to handle it. However, if its who I'm thinking this is about I'm not sure how my reaction will be and that is what I'm not sure you'll be able to handle. If your coming with we need to get to this meeting so we can get going." I stood up and headed towards the conference room.

Looking around the room I see everyone is sitting here waiting to be told whats going on and when we leave. Everyone here minus Steph and Hector, were all in the military. So they're all ready for things like this. Briefing then leaving type of situations.

"Alright guys here's whats going on. My older brother called and asked for help from me in the form of a team. It seems a mission went wrong some how and they need help. We'll be flying out of here in about an hour. I need you to pack quick and be down in the garage in 20 mins. Only bring necessities. He said that they have plenty of weapons for what we might need there with him. So don't worry about back ups or stuff like that. Ram bring your rifle just in case though. I'm not sure how long we'll be gone but anything we might need extra can always be picked up later. Bring your vests with just in case. Hector bring your laptop with. Dismissed!"

Everyone jumps and heads out of the room to get ready and geared up. I grab Steph's hand and all but drag her up to my apartment.

In the apartment she tugs on her hand and all but shrieks " I can't pack in 20 mins are you nuts. Plus you haven't told me whats really going on so I know what to pack. What about my family and Rex."

"Steph your not packing I am. I'll pack for you. As for you family call them now and tell them that your going out of town for work for a bit and not sure when exactly you'll be back. As if they can watch Rex for you or I can have one of the guys go get him and bring him back here."

I turn and head to the bedroom to pack our bags. I know she's not happy but will just have to deal or stay here. This is one of the many reasons I don't like relationships. To many questions asked, too much time delayed when time is of an essence.

I've always got a ready bag stashed in my closet for times like these that I can just grab and go. It has everything I might need and if not then I can grab it somewhere else or improvise.

As I'm tossing Stephs uniforms in the bag thinking this will make things easier with the short time we have she walks in and stops.

"Ranger, your only packing my Rangeman uniforms. What about anything else?"

I look up as I'm zipping shut her bag. "This is not a vacation Steph. You don't need anything else. I have your bathroom stuff and clothes. You don't carry a gun often enough to even waste the time with that. Anything else like I said in the meeting can be picked up later."

I grab the bags and head for the door. I stop at the door and look back and notice she hasn't moved. I sighed, I seem to be doing that a lot today gonna have to watch that so it doesn't become a habit, and head back to her. I grab her hands and bring them up to my hands for a light kiss.

"Steph I know this all move fast but it needs to. I'm sorry I don't have more information to offer you right now or more time to delve into things right now. I wish I knew what was in store for us once we get there but I just don't know. Having to work like this is one of the many reasons why I don't do relationships. When I get a call I don't have time for questions or answers. I have enough time to grab my bag and be on my way. Simply because I'm the one that gets called when things are going horribly wrong. If you come with just know that there are gonna be things that I can't tell you. Its not a not wanting to tell you its a simple I can not tell you otherwise I will get in life or death trouble. That's what JJ's comment about clearance was about. There's gonna be details and situations that you can't know. So if you ask me a question and I tell you I can't tell you. Please understand and drop it ok?" I plead with her trying to get her to move. She nods and I head for the door again. This time she's right behind me.

By the time we get down to the garage everyone is there waiting for us. I notice Aldon is there waiting as well for my instructions. I walk over to him. "Your senior on staff while we're gone. You've been here long enough. I'll put in a call to Boston and have one of the leaders up there come down to help out. You know whats going and how things work. I'm counting on you to keep it running. If there is something that you and the other leader can't handle we all still have our cells on. I'll call and check in. Dismissed!" I turn and head for the vehicles so we can get on the move.

We get to the private airport that I use and I see the pilot is just finishing up his pre-flight checks. He nods to me and I know we're ready to go as soon as everyone is aboard.

We all get settled in and the pilot comes over the intercom that we're ready to take off. Once we're in the air I stand up and walk over to the fridge. I need something to drink.

I grab the first thing I can and pull it out. Just happens to be a bottle of beer. I wish it was something stronger to be completely honest. I chuckle at that. I'm not normally one for drinking but right now I could really use a few hard shots.

Out of the corner of my eye I see Steph stand up and start to walk over. Just as she passes Lester he reaches out to stop her and shakes his head no. I can see she wants to disregard him but listens anyways and walks over an sits down next to Bobby.

I grab another beer and head over to sit down next to Les.

I had him the other beer and take a drink of my own. Downing half the bottle.

He looks at his then looks at me. " I feel your pain cuz. I loved her just as much as you. It was always the three of us. I never stopped thinking about her. Its probably why I can't stick with just one woman. I feel like I left my heart the night we joined up. My heart and my soul. I can see it in your actions and know you feel the same way. I've always followed you. Ever since we were just learning to crawl in abuela's kitchen. Why did we run Los? I never did figure it out. Why did we just up and leave her?"

He turns his head and takes a drink.

I'm not exactly sure how to answer him. I don't want to because it will just serve as a reminder that it wasn't just me that I failed. It was all three of us.

" I was scared. I didn't know what to do with the feelings that she caused me to have. I thought I wasn't good enough and managed to drag you in with me. I figured she would be fine without us there. She was always good at finding her way thru anything anyways."

We were quiet for awhile after that until Les stood up to get another beer.

"You were a self centered bastard Los. You still are. You and your chicken shit ways. Gets to rough on you emotionally lets run away. Don't like the answer well force your answer harder. Someone doesn't want to do something well you'll just sweet talk them into it. I loved her just as much as you and yes I'll admit I followed you just like I did as kids. Like always. Just like I probably always will."

As he walked away I looked up and noticed everyone was looking at us now. I know they all heard and I'm sure they all have a million questions. At least they fear me enough not to ask. Except Steph. I know she's gonna bombard me the 1st chance she gets. Damn! I close my eyes and lean my head back in the seat. They always say the past has a way of coming back and biting you on the ass. I have a feeling its not just gonna stop at my ass but swallow me whole!


	2. Chapter 2

Disclaimer: if you recognize the names they don't belong to me but to JE. Everyone else is just here to play with her people. No making anything from this just having fun. Reviews are more than welcome. Let me know what you think. Thanks!

Rangers POV:

The plane lands at a small airstrip just like the one we took off from. As we all file out of the plane I notice there are a couple of black Escalades waiting for us. I'm guessing this must be JJ's guys. There are two guys standing outside the vehicles and I notice one of them right away. Its Hawk, JJ's fly boy. The man is a genius when in the cockpit of any aircraft.

I walk over to him and we shake hands. "Hawk its good to see you again man."

"Hey man its good to see you too. Wish it was under different circumstances though. This everyone?"

I look around me noticing everyone is standing behind me waiting for introductions but they'll just have to wait. I nod to Hawk, "this is everyone." He nods in return and asks if we're ready. At my nod in affirmative we load up into the vehicles and head towards our destination.

The ride there isn't very long. About 15 mins at most. I know that Hawk won't give up details with others in the vehicle so I don't even try.

We pull up into a decent sized house with a yard. I cock my eyebrow at Hawk wondering where we are.

The house is only one level brick ranch house. There's a decent sized yard, I would have to guess about an acre at most. A pool off to the side of the house as well as a brick patio. All very modestly done. Like your typical suburban family would have. This is definitely not JJ's style. Unless he's married now with kids anyways. The last we talked he wasn't.

Hawk just laughs at my expression and says "looks can be deceiving man you know that. Who would ever think to find us in the middle of suburban hell?"

I had to agree with him.

We got out and unloaded our gear we brought with us. We walk up on the front porch Hawk hits a finger print scanner then punches a code. At least the security is decent I think.

Upon walking into the house I notice we're in what must be a living room. I see a fire place off to my left with four couches around it. Hawk tells us to just go ahead and leave our gear next to the couches and to follow him. He walks up to a wall and puts his hand on it. I'm starting to wonder if all the air time he's had is starting to affect his brain a bit until I see a pad light up that was under his hand. Next thing I know a section of the wall slides open to show us a large room behind it.

He stops in the door way and asks the occupants of the room "anyone working on anything classified at the moment?" I couldn't hear anything but he leaned back and said "alright you guys can come in but do not and I mean do not touch anything in this room. If you don't own it and weren't told directly to touch it, its not yours. Bones inside here will cut first and ask later. Understood?" We all nod and follow him in.

I hear a couple of quick breath intakes from my guys and Steph when they walked into the room. I had to agree it was quite impressive. I think they have more electronics in this room than the Pentagon security room has.

Along one wall is a row of desks. Each desk has two 30 inch monitors on it. I count 8 desks in that row. Along another wall is what appears to be security footage monitors like we have back home, however these are about five times the size of ours and there has to be at least 50 of them. All showing different cameras of what i'm not sure. It almost looks like this property. Looking around the rest of the room I notice book shelves filled with binders. I'm not exactly sure what they would hold. Who knows what all my big brother has gotten himself into. I also notice a large electronic command center map.

Hawk interrupts my inspection of the map and says "everything in this room is state of the art technology that isn't supposed to be on the market for another room. The computers can access anything you would want in the world. As you've noticed the monitors on the wall behind us, those are all the security cameras around the property and inside the buildings. We are sitting on about 30 acres of land. There's a tunnel system underground that will take you anywhere you could want on the property and some places off the property. However if you don't know your way around I would advise you not to even try. You will get lost. They are set up so that unless you have been navigating them for years you need a hand held tracking device to find the way. There are lights on the floor that will light up with the device once you've programmed in your destination. However like most of everything on the property in order to get in or use something you have to use either fingerprint or hand print scan and your specialized pass code. So don't think about going somewhere without someone with you because your not in the system and you could be stuck there for a long time. We'll see you on the monitors but unless its an emergency your stupid ass will be left there. Understood?" We all nod our understanding to him.

Hawk then turns to the map I was looking at and touches it. Everything goes blank. Interesting its a touch screen. Man JJ you have some awesome toys I think to myself.

I look over to Hector and notice he's shaking with excitement at seeing this room. Hector loves his electronics.

"On this we can bring up maps of anything and everything. If there is an area that you need information on this is we're we go. Its direct link to the satellites that are out in space. We can zoom into a mile away from anything and anywhere. After that mile mark we can zoom in more but the further you zoom in the more distortion you get of the image."

As Hawk finished telling us about the map the wall that we came in thru opened up and in walked JJ. He came right to me and stuck out his hand to me.

"Little brother you don't know how happy I am to see you here."

I look him over he's looks in bad shape. Whatever has happened has taken its toll on him for sure.

"Big bro you know you can call me anytime. I will always come to you. Let me introduce you to my team. The big man is Tank, he's my right hand man has my back always. Next to him is our medic Bobby Brown, then Ram my sniper. Woody next, if it can be drove or flown he can do it. If the engine don't start he can fix it. Next to him is Cal, he can fix or destroy anything. Next to Cal is Hector, he's my electronics wiz. Boots does a little bit of everything but his specialty is tracking. This is Steph, she has an uncanny ability to figure out any puzzle no matter what the situation is. Her intuition rivals mine and Lester's when she listens to it. And of course you know our weasel of a cousin Les."

As I say that JJ walks over to Les and grabs him for a tight hug. JJ always treated Lester like another little brother.

They break up and JJ turns to everyone, "Its nice to meet you all. I thank you for coming with to help on this matter. I'm sorry we are meeting under the circumstances but it is what it is. I'm JJ, Rangers oldest brother. Welcome to my home away from home most times. I'll give you all a tour later since its almost chow time around here. As you know the big ugly guy behind me is Hawk. The guy over on the computer right now we call him Tom Tom. Like the gps unit. I have 8 members of my crew. One of which is missing and the reason you are all here. I'll get into details after we all eat. I will introduce the others as they come and go. All together we have about 45 other members that work and or stay here. Now that that is over let us head over to the galley and eat shall we?"

With that he heads to the wall/ door. We follow JJ down a short hallway off the living room that brings us to a set of stairs that head downward. I knew there had to be another level this place.

We proceed down another hallway and I notice along the way that we passed a bunch doors and a few other hallways.

This place is most definitely deceiving to the outsider.

We reach the galley and its a large room set up just like any other galley with a buffet along one wall. We each grab a plate full of food and head over to take seats. While eating, I notice everything is quiet. Most of all Steph is quiet. I can't help but to wonder what is going on in that mind of hers.

After we finish our food and put away our dirty dishes we follow JJ into a conference room. It looks just like the ones we have back at Rangeman. We all take a seat and JJ starts in telling us whats going on.

" As I stated one of my team members is missing. We took on a mission a few months back. I'm not going to go into details because most of it is classified. Everything was going good. Mission was about completed so we broke group slowly when each member had completed their part of it to regroup back at the extraction point. Seven of us made it. Rough was missing. This is nothing unusual for our group. Rough always stays back to make sure everyone gets away safe and clear then makes sure we have everything that is needed to complete the mission. No loose ends I guess you could say. We waited as long as we could but then had to leave to head back home here. Two weeks later I got word from Rough that everything was ok but there was a last minute problem that needed to be taken care of. Rough told me that everything should be good to go in another week. That was two months ago."

As JJ told us a brief over view of what was going on I noticed that he was truly worried. Its not like him to worry much about things in life.

I decided we needed to figure out a bit more to go off of. "Alright now that you gave us a quick over view. I know who most of your team is but who is Rough? Where was the last contact made from? What kind of contact was it and how long was it? You know the drill on this JJ."

JJ sighs and looks at me, "you and Les know who Rough is. However, she didn't go by that name then. She didn't get it until she made Seals training. Its Cat little brother. Cat is Rough. I can't tell everyone where the mission was until its cleared by the Admiral. But I can tell you the last contact I got from her was here typical video to Cole. The problem with the fact that it was her typical form is that these videos were always bounced thru Puerto Rico. Sent by email. Encrypted beyond that. I've had everyone I can think of who is even remotely computer literate try and back track it but Cat set this up herself so that I couldn't be back tracked. Its set up so that if the video is accessed by anyone other than Cole on his own computer it disappears to never be seen again. It can't be traced here nor can it be traced to her."

I was trying to process everything that JJ had just said.

It was Cat! She was in danger!

I looked over to Les to see how he was handling this news. He was shocked you could say that. The look on his face would have been priceless had it been a different situation.

He stood up and walked over to the wall. Put his hands up against it and dropped his head. I knew exactly how he felt. I was feeling the same way.

At some point Hawk and another guy came into the room with us.

Les turned around and I could hardly believe my eyes. He had tears streaming down his face. He looked at JJ and said "I need either a gym or a gun range now! Either or will work." JJ nodded and looked at the new guy.

"This is Marcus he'll take you to them. The range is right next to the gym. Shoot the shit outta some targets then do work in the gym. Have him page me if you need anything else."

I was in shock. I didn't know what to do, how to do it or when to do it. I was sitting there struggling with keeping my blank mask on so that everyone else didn't see my torment. I was their leader. I needed to keep it together. I had to get her back but in order to do it I needed to stay in control.

Tank must have noticed because he looked to JJ and ask " Tell us about Rough. What does she look like, how does she act, what would she do if things went south wherever she's at?"

JJ cleared his throat looked at me and asked if I wanted to join Les. I shook my head yes. I needed to do something to clear these emotions out so I could get to work. I figured I didn't need to hear about here right now. Figuring the less I heard about her the easier time I would have focusing on the mission at hand. I could learn about her after we get her back. I just needed to focus.

Hawk spoke up and said he would take me to the range. I followed him out of the room and down a few hallways. I wasn't paying attention to where we were going because my thoughts where too jumbled up.

We reached the range and Hawk handed me two 9 mm sig sauers and four fully loaded clips. I checked the clips in both of the guns. They were fully loaded as well. So I had six clips fully loaded to unload into the targets down the lane from me.

I lined up and unloaded both guns simultaneously. I probably should have put on protection but I needed the pain from not only the recoil of the gun but also from the sound.

Before I started shooting I lined the clips up on their ends so I could reload faster.

I blew thru all six clips like it was nothing. I put the guns down and just leaned against the partition. Hawk walked up behind me and reeled my target in. The head was completely missing as was a three inch hole where the heart should be.

Hawk rested his hand on my shoulder and said "Come on man lets go to the gym. I'll spar with ya for a bit."

I looked up at him and just had to laugh. I wasn't sure if it was actually funny or if the stress of who was in trouble was causing hysterics already.

I followed him out of the range across the hall to the gym. It was huge in here. I was in awe. This room blew anything at Rangeman out of the water that's for sure. I noticed there were three rings in the middle of the room. Les was in one sparring with Marcus. They were going pretty hard at it. No holding back.

We got into an empty ring and I started to strip down. I looked up at Hawk as we got in, "I don't think I can hold back man. I don't want to hurt you so please don't let me get away with anything."

He just laughs at me and says "Boy, I may be old but I could still kick the shit outta your snot nosed ass. I've been beating the shit outta guys like you since you were in diapers. Get over here and lets get this started." I laughed a little. I knew what he was doing and he did it. His comment was meant to lessen the tension surrounding us. With that out of the way we started circling each other and the match was on.

An hour and a half later I found myself flat on my back staring up at a grinning Hawk.

"See boy I told you I could whoop your ass."

He reached a hand down to help me up. I grabbed it and laughed as he pulled me up. "How'd you know man?" He paused and looked at me. A genuine smile came across his face when he replied, "Its because I knew you weren't focused on the match. Your mind was else where fighting with itself. Part wanted to pay attention to our match but the other part was waging war with the thoughts of Cat. I knew I could take you in this state. However I am man enough to say that had you had your full focus on me I wouldn't have stood a chance. You've done good for yourself man."

He clapped me on the shoulder, turned me in the directions of the locker rooms and gave me a shove while saying, "No shoo go shower yourself you stink boy!"

Just as I started walking to go do just that I heard a bunch of snickering behind me. I turned around to see who it was and sure enough it was all the guys I brought with me and Steph standing there. I wonder how long they where there. Shit if I don't get my head on straight soon I'm gonna be in deep trouble.

Steph walked up to me, wrapped her arms around my waist and looked up at me as she leaned her head against my shoulder, "you feel better now?"

I thought about it for a minute. Did I feel better? Ya I guess I did. So I shook my head yes to her and wrapped my arms around her as well. She shrieked and jumped away from me. "Eww your all sweaty and you do stink. I think you should go take that shower now batman." Her eyes were twinkling with laughter as she said this to me so I knew she was only messing with me. I had to have a little bit of fun with her. After everything so far. I'm sure she was feeling a bit left out and maybe neglected.

I grabbed a towel off the bench acting as if I was gonna use it to wipe off some. She turned around and started to walk back towards all the guys. Just the opening I was looking for. I snapped the towel at her and hit my mark. Dead center of her right ass cheek. She shrieked and turned to glare at me. I curled up my lips in a slight grin and told her, "If I were you Babe I would run. I think this towel just might have a few snaps left in it." With that she just stared at me until I started to twirl the towel around to get it ready for another round. She turned and ran.

I chased after her around the room. She ran out the door and down the hall a bit in the opposite direction from the way we came in here. I was gaining on her just as I knew I would. I looked a little further down the hall and noticed a big pool. I sped up a bit and caught her. Tossed her over my shoulder and ran down the rest of the way to the pool and jumped in with her in my arms.

We came up from the water and she was spitting and sputtering. She glared at me and then looked around. I couldn't hold it in anymore I started out right laughing.

"I can't believe you just did that!"

I swam the little ways over to her and grabbed her around the waist. She wrapped her arms and legs around me. When I stopped my laughing I just looked into her eyes. I could clearly read that even though she was acting upset she was happy. That's all I want. I leaned in and gave her a gentle kiss as I started to swim us over to the wall.

I lifted her up out of the water and was crawling out when she got an evil grin on her face and pushed me back in.

I come up out of the water and asked her if she enjoyed that. She grinned and nodded her head yes. I smiled at her in return. I want her to have a few happy moments before we get into things too deep here.

We head back towards the gym so that I can shower.

JJ must have seen me chasing Steph towards the pool area because when we got back to the gym both of our bags where at his feet. He was grinning ear to ear. "So little brother did she kick your ass too?" I chuckled a little and shook my head as I grabbed my bag and headed towards the shower.


	3. Chapter 3

Disclaimer : Same as before. Review let me know what you think. Thanks!

Ranger POV:

After the workout, horse play and shower I finally was able to focus on what we needed to do. I walked out of the locker room and found Hawk waiting for me. He told me that everyone had gone to the media room. I followed down the hallway back towards the stairway leading up stairs. Instead of heading up the stairs he kept going forward down the hallway to the first door on the left and went in. Inside the room was huge just like the rest of everything down here. It reminding me of what you would see in a movie theater. Rows of chairs set in a slight decline with a huge projection screen in the front of the room. However, these weren't your normal chairs. They looked like recliners. Looking over I noticed Les and Bobby both reclined with their feet up nursing a couple of beers. Steph was resting against Bobby. Tank was sitting next to JJ having a whispered conversation so not to interrupt the movie for the others. On the screen was playing a movie that the guys liked to watch often. Swat. I think the only reason they like to watch it is because of the guns, explosions, and Michelle Rodriguez.

I looked to Hawk standing next to me and asked if we could pause the movie for a minute. He nods and walk off.

Just as the screen froze and the lights come up I heard all the guys groan and a bunch of "aw come on man!" shouted around. I had to grin at the fact that the screen was frozen on a shot of Michelle standing there in the middle of beating the shit out of a punching bag. I had to agree with the guys. She's a good looking woman. Looking at her on the screen, she reminds me so much of Cat while we were in highschool. It seemed like she was always working out in some shape or form. Dark brown hair pulled back into a braid, deep chocolate eyes so focused on what she was doing, hands wrapped up to protect them, black sports bra and a pair of work out pants. I used to get so turned on just watching the way her body moved. All the muscles contracting and releasing with every move. Skin the color of a golden brown in the winter months. Showing her latin heritage. Dark chocolate colored during the summer with her tan. I shook my head to clear my thoughts and get down to business.

"Alright guys its late lets hit the racks. Hawk will show each of you to your rooms. We have a lot of ground to cover tomorrow. I need everyone here to be fully rested and ready to work in the morning. I expect to see everyone in the gym before breakfast to work off any tiredness and to get the blood flowing so we have our heads on straight. After chow time we'll meet up in conference room we were in earlier where you'll each receive your orders. Dismissed!"

As they all started to leave the room behind Hawk I stopped Les. He looks at me questioningly. I know he's asking what I need. "I'll probably end up telling Steph a little more about Cat tonight." He nods his approval and looks over to where she's standing waiting for me. "Ya that's probably a good idea. She deserves to know some of it if not all. If you need me you know how to get a hold of me. Good luck man. I know its gonna be rough on both of you." I nod my thanks to him and he takes off to catch up to the rest of the group.

I turn to JJ and ask where we'll be crashing. "You guys are gonna bunk together?" he questions. I nod my head, "Ya, for tonight anyways. We need to talk about some things." He nods his agreement and heads for the door. I look to Steph, "come on Babe. Lets head to our room and then I think we need to talk. There are some things I need to tell you about. If after we're done you don't feel comfortable with sharing a room with me I'll understand and have JJ show me to a different room." I hold out my arms for her and she walks over to me and wraps her arms around my waist and we head to our room.

Continuing down the hall away from the stairs JJ says over his shoulder "this is the barracks wing. The name is self explanatory. There are three bedrooms upstairs on the main level but those are reserved for myself, Cat, and Cole. The rest of the men stay down here. There's a total of 30 rooms. All of them are identical. Very basic." We walk into the room and I notice that it is just as JJ said. Your typical basic barracks room. This brings back memories from my time in the Army when I was first starting out. The room help a desk and chair along one wall. A tv and small fridge up against another. A queen sized bed, a double closet and a door finished off this room. The door leads into a bathroom with a shower, toilet, sink and a closet that I would assume is holding towels and other small necessary items.

Steph walks around the room checking everything out and says "you weren't kidding when you said very basic." JJ chuckles a little at her response. "Well, when you have a compound the size of ours you have to draw the line somewhere when it comes the expenses. The guys that live here permanently are allowed to change up anything in their rooms as they see fit. However, most don't because they don't feel its important enough when so little time is actually spent in their room. It becomes nothing more than a place to sleep."

JJ motions me over to the desk. "If you need something just picking up the phone will get you directly to the command room. If you need me directly before morning hold down the pound key before picking up then hit 77 and it will ring right to my phone." I nod my understanding to him and he walks to the door wishing us a good night and said he'll see us in the morning probably in the gym.

After the door was closed behind JJ I turned to look at Steph. I can see she's nervous. She's twisting her hands together and looking at everything in the room just to keep her eyes off me. I walk over to her and grab her hands. I pull them to my lips and give a gentle kiss to her palms. "Come on Babe. Lets sit on the bed and I'll tell you a little bit about my past with Cat." She looks up at me and nods her head. "Alright, give me just a minute to use the restroom first." She heads towards the bathroom. I know this is her way of stalling a little bit. She does that whenever its something big that we have to talk about. I'm sure she's nervous about what I'm going to tell her. With how my reaction to JJ's news earlier and just how I've been acting all together. This isn't normal behavior for me. She's never seen me lose my focus and control before.

I sit on the bed while waiting for Steph to finish up in the bathroom. I wonder how and what I should tell her. How much will be either enough or too much. As I'm trying to figure this out the bathroom door opens up and she walks out and over to the bed. She crawls up the bed and sits against the head board mirroring my position. She smiles up at me and says "alright Ranger I'm ready I guess. What do we need to talk about?" I smile at this. She's trying to be brave and not let her insecurities show. I know her well enough though to see and know that she's a nervous wreck. I pick her up, settle her in between my legs and lean her back against my chest. I leaned my head down to kiss the side of her head and just breath her in. I pray this won't cost me my best friend. I inhale deeply and let it out slowly. I'm still not sure what to go about this story but I figure I'll take a page from Steph's book and just jump in with both feet and hope to swim instead of sinking.

"What I'm about to tell you is hard for me to tell anyone. So please bare with me on this. You know I'm a very private person. I don't tell anyone things about my past. The only ones who know what has gone on are the ones who were there with me during those times." I pause trying to think of how to start. Steph nods to me that she understands that I'm trying to tell her not to take it personally that I've never told her much about my past. I take one last deep breath and start the tale of how Cat and I met.

"One day, when I was about 9 years old momma sent me to the store to get some small groceries. The store was just down a couple blocks from our house. As I was nearing the store I crossed in front of an alleyway. Movement caught my eye and I stopped to see what it was. I walked into the alley and saw this little girl curled up in a ball on the ground next to a dumpster. I walked closer to her and noticed that she couldn't have been more than 5 maybe 6 years old at most. She was just this tiny little thing all curled up and dirty as could be. She must have noticed I was there because she lifted her head and looked at me. I took a step closer and asked if she was alright. She just stared at me and scooted back as if she was afraid of me. I wasn't sure what had happened to her but could see hear fear in the way her body was shaking. I put my hands up and told her I wasn't going to hurt her but would like to help her instead. She shook her head no and stood up. She stood there and stared at me and I wondered if maybe she didn't speak English so I asked again in Spanish. When she didn't answer me again I wasn't sure what was going on. So I asked her if she understood me. She shook her head yes so I began asking more questions."

"Do you have a home?"

Shook her head no.

"Do you have parents?"

"Again shook her head no. I couldn't understand how she could not have parents. She was so young where were her parents? Why didn't she have any? Did they die? Did they just leave her? I had so many questions for her but I figured it would probably be best to just go with a simple one. Since she seems to be on her own she was probably hungry. Momma had sent me with a little extra so I could get a treat. If she's hungry I'll use that money to buy her something instead. So I asked."

"Are you hungry?"

"She nods yes. Good."

"Follow me into the store. My momma sent me to get some groceries and said I could get a treat. I'll get you something to eat and then you can come back home with me. My parents will know how to help you."

"She shakes her head no rapidly. Then turns and runs away down the alley. I yelled for her to stop as I ran after her. I didn't want her to run away from me. I wasn't sure why she was. She turned a corner and by the time I reached the corner she was no where to be seen. I didn't know where she disappeared to. So I went back to the store. I knew that if I didn't hurry up and get back home Momma wouldn't be happy with me. I figured I'd would just come back tomorrow and see if she was here again. So I went to the store and got all the things Momma asked for but I didn't get a treat. I just put the extra in my pocket to save for later and went back home."

I stopped to take a drink of water from the bottle I grabbed before I sat down on the couch. Then continued on with my story.

"Late that night at bedtime I laid awake in my bed. I replayed everything in my head that happened from the time I met that little girl to when she ran away. Trying to figure out what I did wrong and caused her to run away from me. I wasn't a big boy by any means. I was tall but on the skinny side. So I didn't think it was my looks. I tried to remember everything I said to her but couldn't see where that went wrong either. I couldn't figure out what happened. I started to get scared for her. Being out there all by herself. In the cold of the night. Before I fell asleep I promised myself I would find her and take care of her no matter what I had to do. She needed someone to look out for her. I cried myself to sleep that night with that promise on my mind."

"For the next two weeks I made some excuse to go to the store or in that general area. I would walk down to the alley and look for her. But she was never there. I walked that alley and a couple others around it searching for her but she wasn't there. I would cry myself to sleep every night not knowing what happened to her. Where was she. Was she ok. Was she able to find something to eat. Those questions plagued me constantly."

" Then school started and I didn't have time to go down there. I would go to school and then straight home because my parents demanded from us kids that right after school you came home and did your homework before starting your chores. It was the following week, three weeks after I first met her that I saw her again. "

She was huddled up underneath a picnic table in the park by the school grounds. I was on my way to school when I saw her. I walked over slowly and sat on the ground about ten feet away from her. She looked up at me and her eyes went wide. I said hi and asked her if she remembered me. She shook her head yes. I told her I was sorry I scared her the last time and that I didn't mean to. She shook her head no so I wasn't sure what she meant with that. I told her that I worried about her ever since that day. Wondering where she was. I told her I was on my way to school but I didn't want to leave her now that I found her again. I offered my lunch bag to her and she just stared at it. Like it was going to jump out and bite her or something. I told her it was ok she could have it. That I wanted her to have it.

She slowly reach out and took the bag gently from me. She reached inside and pull out the apple that was in there and handed the bag back to me. When she looked up at me my heart broke. She had tears in her eyes. As I was looking into her eyes I heard a very faintly whispered "thank you" pass from her lips."

I took another drink of water trying to bring myself back to the present from my memories of that time. Still to this day it pains me the way I had found her. I looked down at Steph and noticed she had tears in her eyes. I gently wiped them away and kissed her on the top of the head before continuing again.

"I asked her if I could stay with her for awhile and she shook her head yes. A cool breeze came up and I saw her shiver. I took my jean jacket I was wearing off and passed it to her. She was hesitant at first but finally did take it as another breeze chilled her more. I asked her if we could find somewhere else to go and she nodded yes to me. So we headed off towards the store where we first met. I sat down on the ground with my back against the wall and patted the ground next to me. She was hesitant to be close to me until I told her I wouldn't touch her I just wanted to talk and by sitting next to me I would block any cool breezes that might come up. She seemed to accept that and sat down next to me. Close but making sure not to touch.

I knew she was still afraid of me but could tell she was starting to trust me. So we sat there side by side and I told her about myself. My name, how old I was, where I lived. I told her about my older brothers and sisters, and about my parents. Even at that age I never talked much about myself. But that's what I did all day long. I sat and told her about myself while she just listened. The whole time she held onto that apple with both hands like it was a life line."

"Before I knew it, I heard the bells from the school ring and knew I had to get home so I didn't get into trouble. I told her that I had to go but if she wanted she could come with me. She shook her head no. I think she was still too scared yet. If she wanted I would meet her back here tomorrow morning again. She nodded yes. I stood up and she was about to give me my jacket back when I shook my head no. I told her she needed it more than I did. I wanted her to keep it. It wasn't much but it was something at least. She whispered thank you again and I just smiled at her. As I was about to turn to leave the alley I noticed she had a small smile on her face as well. I knew from that moment on I would do anything I could to keep it there. To help her and to protect her. I felt a connection with her that I had never felt with anyone else before. I ran all the way home thinking of what I could bring her tomorrow. I really wanted her to come back with me but didn't want to push and have her run away from me again."

"After I was sent to bed I laid in bed thinking of what I could fit into my backpack to give to her in the morning. I decided on a set of my clothes, a blanket, some food and a bottle of water. I was gonna ask her to come back with me again but if she wouldn't then I would leave those items with her. I quietly packed up everything and crawled back into my bed. That night for the first time in I went to sleep happy."

"The next morning I was up bright and early. I double checked my backpack to make sure I had everything ready. I headed off like any other school day towards the school but changed direction about halfway there to head towards the alley to meet up with her. When I got there she was huddled up in my jacket sitting right where she was the day before. I sat down next to her and placed my backpack in front of her. I told her it was for her but that I really wished she would come back to my home with me today. I told her that if she didn't want to come with me then I would go home tonight pack another back pack and I would come stay with her. At least that way I knew she was alright and I could keep watch of her and keep her as safe as we could be. She shook her head no again. I let out a sigh and continued to talk again just like the day before.

At some point during the morning she had pulled out the blanket and wrapped it around herself. She had also scooted closer to me so that she was no leaning against my side. I wrapped my arm around her shoulders to hold her closer to me to keep her warm and safe. It seemed like she liked to listen to me talk so that's what I did. I held her close and continued talking about anything and everything I could think of. I heard the school bells ring and knew that our time was up. I didn't want to leave her. It felt like I was leaving a part of myself here. I told her I had to go and begged her one last time to come with me. When she didn't answer me I stood up to leave but she reached up and grabbed my hand. I looked at her and she nodded her head yes. I couldn't remember ever being as happy as I was at that moment. I knew my parents would take her in. Let her stay with us and give her all that she would need. I picked up the backpack slung it over my shoulder and we headed towards my house. The whole way there she walked about a step behind me but held onto my hand just like she had the apple the day before."


	4. Chapter 4

Disclaimer: Same as before. If you recognize them they're not mine. Enjoy please leave a review and let me know what you think. Thanks!

Ranger POV:

I paused again to take a drink and glance quickly at the time. It was nearing midnight and I knew we needed to get to sleep soon. But I wanted to get as much of this out of the way so that Steph had a little more clue as to the bond that Cat and I had growing up.

I glanced down and Steph still leaning against my chest and asked her if she was ok. She replied telling me she was but was trying hard to keep the tears at bay to make this easier on me. That's one of the things I always loved about her. Always thinking of others. Specially during hard times. I nodded to her and told her I would continue a bit more before we needed to try and get some sleep. Tomorrow was sure to be a long day.

"When we got to my house I could see that Cat was scared. I tucked her under my arm and promised her everything would be ok. It seemed as if that was the turning point for her trust in me. She looked up in my eyes searching to see if I was being truthful to her. She must have found what she was looking for because she nodded her head and we walked in. From that point on she always trusted in me. If I told her something would be ok she fully believed me and did it."

"We walked into the house and I sat Cat down on the couch in the living room. I told her everything would be ok, that no one would bother her, and that I needed to go talk to Momma. I pointed to the door I would be thru off the dining room. If she got scared she could either scream for me or run to me but I would be right back. The look in her eyes told me understood and would try to follow as I asked."

"As I walked into the kitchen I called to my Momma. 'Momma where are you? I need to talk to you about something important!' I found her just finishing up the dishes. As she turned towards me wiping her hands on the dish towel she asked ' what is it mi hijo? Are you hurt? Are you alright?' I sat down at the counter and told her I was ok but that I had a friend who was not ok and needs help."

"What kind of help does this friend need mi hijo?"

"She's very young Momma. I met her on my way to the store for you a while back. She has no home or family Momma. She's very scared. We have to help her Momma. I worry about her I don't want to see something happen.' I was almost crying by the end of telling Momma about Cat."

"Where is this friend now mi hijo?"

"Shes in the living room Momma. Shes very scared Momma and doesn't talk. She understands just fine but it is almost like she is afraid to talk. I don't know what happened to her family or to her. But I can't leave her. I had a hard time talking her into coming back here with me. I didn't want her staying in the alley by the store anymore. Its not safe out there for her.' By this point I was openly crying. Momma opened her arms and told me to come to her. She comforted and me told me we would figure everything out. We walked into the living room and Cat was still on the couch where I left her sitting. She looked up at Momma and scooted back a bit and dropped her head in submission. I was sad to see her like this."

"Momma walked over and kneeled in front of her. She started talking to Cat but it was in whispers so I couldn't hear what she had said. Cat just kept nodding or shaking her head yes or no to all the questions that Momma asked her."

"Finally after a few minutes Momma stood up quietly and walked to stand behind me, she pushed me gently towards Cat and told me to go to her. That she trusted me and would need my help to show her out of the dark path that her life has taken her down already. Just as I started over to the couch all of a sudden Cat jumped up and ran right for me. I wasn't sure what was going on until she stopped on top of my feet and wrapped her arms around my waist and started to cry. I lowered us to the ground and just let her cry. Even to this day I've never heard another sound that ripped at my emotions as hard as her crying that afternoon did. She let it all out while holding me as tight as possible. I wasn't sure what exactly to do. I looked over to Momma for help and she told me "just follow your heart mi hijo, its what she needs right now. Your heart is pure and it will tell you exactly what to do." With that she turned and walked back into the kitchen.

"I sat there and rocked back and forth with this tiny little girl in my arms while she cried herself to sleep. Letting go of all the pain and fear she had built up over god only knows how long. Once she finally fell asleep I laid us down on the floor and wrapped myself around her like a protective wall so she could sleep in peace for a bit."

_*mi hijo - my son*_


	5. Chapter 5

Disclaimer: Same as before. If you recognize them they're not mine. Enjoy please leave a review and let me know what you think. Thanks!

Ranger POV:

"When Poppa came home from work Momma met him outside to tell him what was going on. They decided that it was probably better for Poppa to not pay attention and try to stay out of Cats way for a couple days. Give her a chance to get used to everything going on before a big man was involved in the house.

At some point while Cat was crying Momma had made up another bed in my room thinking that Cat probably wouldn't feel safe anywhere else. After dinner Momma had told me about the extra bed in my room and how I should expect to have Cat follow me around everywhere. We still didn't know what her name was because she wouldn't talk so we each kind of gave her our own nickname. Momma called her Munchkin. Poppa started to call her that when he started to interact with her more after a few days. Same with my brothers and sisters.

That first night before we went to sleep I asked her if there was something special she wanted me to call her. She looked over at me from across the room. When she didn't answer I asked if she wanted me to call her Munchkin like Momma. She shook her head no. I asked her if she would tell me her real name and she just stared at me. I was just drifting of to sleep when I heard her say "my name is Catalina. If its alright with you I would like you to call me either Cat or" she was quiet for a few minutes then a soft "baby girl". I stood up and walked over to her leaned down and kissed the top of her head whispering "good night baby girl sleep well." Then walked back over to bed. "good night Los."

"Over the course of the next couple months Cat followed me around everywhere I went except to school. I still had to go and hated it. I didn't like leaving her. At that age I couldn't figure out why it bothered me so much to leave her. I knew that I should be out playing with all the other boys. But I didn't want to.

We fell into a routine. While I was at school Cat stayed in our room practicing words I would leave for her. She would try to read them and then write them. Once I got home from school she would come out with her notebook and sit next to me while I was doing my homework. I would help her out and then find new words for the next day or repeat ones she had a hard time with. The only time she would actually speak was either at night time with me in our room or when she was asked a question by Momma or Poppa. But to them it was always a yes/ no ma'ma/ sir followed by please and thank you's. Everyone else she would just nod or shake her head to answer them. She would even do that to me when others were around.

As time went on she got better and talked a little more. She started to open up more and show her real personality. Things were going really well and she was finally to the point where Momma thought she was ready for school. So the next year Momma tried to enroll her at the school. Since they didn't have any paper work for her about who she was or her parents.

Momma asked me to try and push her for some answers if she could remember anything. So I did. I started asking her questions about what happened to her before I found her. At first she told me "Los lets play no more talking" and she ran to the play ground. We played for a bit and then headed home for supper. After we ate I brought her back upstairs and told her why I was asking about her family before us. I told her that she couldn't come to school with me until Poppa got paperwork about who she is. That's when she fully opened up to me."

"She told me her parents weren't nice to her like Momma and Poppa were. Told me the reason she doesn't talk much is because before they were taken, if she talked out of turn or said to much they would hit her. She told me that if she did anything to make them upset she would get sent to her 'time out box'. I asked her what that was. She instantly started to shake but described it as a wooden box just big enough for her to sit in with a lid that had a latch that would lock it shut on the outside."

"I then understood why whenever someone got close to her, or when they were in small spaces she would get scared and try to run away. I never understood most of her reactions towards everything until she started to tell me about her 'home life'. She wasn't allowed friends over. Whenever her parents had friends over they locked her in this box so that she couldn't get in the way."

"When she finally calmed down a little bit she told me how one day there was a loud sound and then her mother was putting her in the box. She didn't know what was going on but heard some yell that they were police. She said that after being in the box for a long time she started to move around a bit and noticed the lid moved and realized it wasn't locked this time."

"So that's how she got out. She stayed in the house for a little bit worried that her parents would come home and be mad at her for being outside the box she ran out the door into the dark night. Said she didn't stop running until she couldn't run anymore. It was only a few days later that I had found her in that alley the first time."

"The next morning I told Momma everything Cat had said the night before. She told me I did good and that her and Poppa would handle it. A few days later Momma pulled me aside while Cat was working on some words I had just given her. She told me that they found Cats parents and knew what happened to them. She told me that the people who had Cat were very bad people and it was a blessing that I found her when I did."

"I was worried that she would be taken away from us. But Momma promised me that she was going to do everything that she could to make sure that didn't happen. When I was older I found out that Cat's full name was Catalina Anna Martinez born in Puerto Rico. She was kidnapped shortly after birth by Hector and Anna Marie Sanchez. They moved to the US so that no one was able to find out that Cat wasn't their child. Anna Marie had wanted a baby girl to be able to dress up as a 'little princess' so they came up with the idea of kidnapping a child so Anna Marie didn't have to go thru the process of a pregnancy."

"They had been arrested for murder and sent to prison. Before they were caught no one knew they had a child with them because she was never seen. She was never let outside except for a few minutes a day in the small enclosed back yard."

"No one was able to find out who Cat's real parents were so after a period of time my parents were allowed to become her legal guardian's. We also found out that Cat had just turned 6 the day I found her."

"When Cat was finally allowed to go to school they tested her to find the right place to start her off. With all the work she had put in while I was at school she tested at the level of the third almost fourth graders. So basically the same level I was at. But since she was so young they decided to put her with the second graders. However, shortly after starting the teachers and my parents agreed that second was just to easy for her so they moved her up to the third grade. A grade behind me."

"About two years after meeting her is when she finally met Lester. At first she wasn't real sure what to make of him as I'm sure you can imagine. He was a real joker back then even. Loved to joke around all the time. He had come to stay with us for a visit while his parents were looking for someplace to stay. His dad had just taken a job back near us and they were in the process of moving so they sent Lester up to stay with us while they were getting everything moved."

"It only took a few days for Cat to warm up and latch onto Les just like she had with me. That was when it started as us being the three amigos I guess you could say. Where one was the other two were near by you could guarantee it."

"When Les started going to our school he was placed in Cat's class. Everyone was happy about that. He always was lacking in his studies all of our parents figured that being in class with Cat would help him catch up easily."

I glanced down at Steph again to see how she was doing. I could see sadness in her eyes but she had a small smile on her face. I asked what was with the smile.

"Just the thought of Lester needing the help of a little girl almost three years younger than him with his school work."

I had to agree with her. It was kind of a funny thought.

"Les likes to mess around and have fun instead of working hard. This shouldn't surprise you to much. He really hasn't changed much over the years."

"Ya he does but its still a funny thought." She giggled a little after that. "Babe." I shook my head at her but had to smile at her. I'm just glad she could find something good of this story.

"Over the next couple of years things went really well. School was going good for the three of us. We fell into an easy routine of going to school, doing our homework and chores, then free time to play. Cat started to open up little at a time. She was still quiet around people she didn't know just staying off to the side to watch them. But when it was just family or a few of our close friends she would talk and joke around with everyone."


	6. Chapter 6

Disclaimer: Same as before. If you recognize them they're not mine. Enjoy please leave a review and let me know what you think. Thanks!

Ranger POV:

"Everything was fine until one day at school, I must have been about 14 years old., Jason the bully in my class was picking on me. We were outside on the play ground. I wasn't sure why all of a sudden he started in on me but something had set him in my direction. He was trying to get me upset enough to fight him. I didn't want to get into a fight because I knew if I did Poppa would be mad at me. He was always telling us that if someone tries to get you to fight to use your words and walk away. He didn't like violence at all. It wasn't allowed in our home."

"When I started walking away, Jason pushed me and I fell. Just as I was rolling over onto my back to look up I saw this blur of brown hair fly past me and latch onto Jason's back. I stood up and noticed it was Cat. She had jumped on Jason's back and had him in a choke hold. Little arms wrapped as tight as possible around his neck cutting off his air. When he started to fall to the ground she jumped down and walked over to me. Walking around me checking to see if I was alright. I couldn't figure out how she got to me so quickly because she should have been in her classroom with Les."

"As Jason started to get up she walked over and kicked him in the stomach as hard as possible flipping him on his back. She looked down at him and said ' its not nice to pick on people' then she spit on him. I wrapped my arm around her shoulder and started to lead her back into the school to get her back to class. I asked her how she knew to come to me. She just shrugged her shoulders and said 'I felt it inside me. That you were in trouble."

I glanced at the clock and saw how late it was. We need to get some sleep. I squeezed Steph in my arms a little bit and with a sigh on my lips told her we needed to get some sleep. "Its late Babe. We need to get some sleep. I promise I'll tell you more tomorrow. Believe it or not I kind of got lost in my memories. But I wanted to make sure you had an idea as to the bond that we had started at such a young age."

With that I laid us down. Laying on my back I pulled Steph into my side. I could tell she had thoughts running rampant in her head. I kissed her head and whispered into her hair "sleep Babe. We'll talk more tomorrow."

She sat up a little to look into my eyes. Putting her palm on the side of my face, she leaned in and gave me a gentle kiss on the lips. "Thank you Ranger for tell me all of that. I can't even begin to imagine what she had to have gone thru. But you saved her. I know you beat yourself up at times for things you have done. I see it in your eyes when you think I'm not looking. Your a savior Ranger. Plain and simple. You can't save everyone in the world. But you've done your fair share that's for sure. You've saved me numerous times. You saved Cat when she was so very young. You'll save her again I'm sure of it. I'm here with you, by your side. Lean on me when you need it Batman."

I reached up with both hands, tangling them in her curly mess. I let her see in my eyes all the worry I had for my old friend, all the pain I had inside knowing that Cat was in trouble, but most of all I let show the love and thankfulness I had for Steph being here with me right now.

I didn't know how much I needed to hear her sweet words of encouragement. I leaned up to kiss her. Show her with more than just my eyes, just how much not only her words but her self in general meant to me.

Breaking away from the kiss slowly I pulled her back down to me. Wrapping her tightly in my arms. "Sleep Babe."

Once I felt Steph fall asleep, I started thinking about all the things I had told her tonight. Everything she has learned. There's so much more that I need to tell her yet.

There are so many things that are of the unknown. How everyone will react once this situation is figured out and done with. How our lives will change or if they will at all.

In the calm darkness of our room, with the woman who has become my best friend over the last couple years wrapped in my arms, I let my tears finally fall silently. The tears that I've held in for the one person that I have every fully loved. The tears that come from knowing she is in trouble that she might not make it out of to see the dawn of the next day.

"Hold on Baby Girl. We're coming for you. We'll find you" I whispered into the dark before closing my eyes to drift off to sleep. Sending up a silent prayer to whoever is listening that we won't be too late to save Cat.


	7. Chapter 7

Disclaimer: Same as before. If you recognize them they're not mine. Enjoy please leave a review and let me know what you think. Thanks!

Ranger POV:

My alarm woke me from my sleep earlier than I would have liked. I looked down at the woman sound asleep next to me. In an instant I'm slammed with the feeling of guilt. Its not right for me to be sleeping with one woman wrapped in my arms only to be dreaming of memories of another. Its not fair to me and even more so to Steph.

I know I need to put just a little distance between us until this is all over. But how do I do that without her thinking I'm pushing her out of my life. How do I tell her that until this is over we probably shouldn't sleep together? That its not fair to her to do so until I have my head on straight. I need her to understand but I know she has so many insecurities when it come to men because of how Dickie and Morelli have treated her in the past.

With a quick gentle kiss to her forehead, I crawl from the bed to get dressed and head to the gym. I need to clear my mind and find my focus. I need a clear head so that we can accomplish everything that needs to be done today.

Upon reaching the gym, I look around and notice all my men are here. Good! Its good to see that my inability to hide my reactions yesterday hasn't messed with their ability to listen to my commands.

I walk over to the track on the out side of the room and do a few stretches. With my muscles stretched out, its time to get this show on the road. Just as I start off on a slow jog I notice out of the corner of my eye that the guys have all fallen in step behind me. Some of the tension that has been riding my body since we left Trenton eases out at the knowledge that they have my back. Always have and always will.

During one of our laps around the gym, Les moves up beside me falling into step again with me. We've done this millions of times before so I know what is coming next. Our strides matching step for step. He looks at me with a nod, "Do it to it Los!"

I nod then yell to the rest of the guys, "Lets do this! Hooah!" As I hear hooah echo behind me I pick up my speed to a full out run. I know the guys can handle my pace. If they can't well I guess they will be in need of some supervised gym time.

Not long after we start at the faster pace I noticed the music that was playing over the speaker system was turned down. Next thing I know there's a group of about ten guys in formation in the middle of the room. JJ standing in front of them.

"WHO ARE WE?" comes from JJ's voice.

"SEALS!"

"WHO ARE THEY?"

"RANGERS!"

"WHO'S THE BIGGER DOG IN THIS POND?"

"SEALS!"

"SHOULD WE SHOW THESE JUNGLE BUNNIES WHAT REAL MEN CAN DO?"

"HOOAH!"

With that they fell into step with us. I had to shake my head at JJ's tactics. After a few laps I once again hear JJ's voice echo off the walls.

"SEALS! STEP IT UP!"

With that, his guys surge past us. Alright its on big brother, if you want to play this game we will. Les and I look at each other with huge grins on our faces. We speed up our pace to catch up to the Seals. We not running at our max speed just yet but its still a harsh pace to keep up.

Over the years JJ, Les and I have played this game many times. Once we're running at a fast pace, one of us would call out a number. That number was the amount of laps we would keep at this pace then push ourselves in a race for the last lap. We take turns on the call outs. Last time was me, the time before was JJ. Leaving this time to Les.

Les calls out 6. I estimated before starting our run that a lap was roughly a third of a mile. So guessing that by the time we are on that last lap racing to finish, I will have ran about five miles. About average for me, however this pace is sure to make my muscles ache for awhile.

By the time we are about to start the final lap, I noticed everyone except for JJ, Les and I have stopped running and are stretching out in the middle of the room on the mats. I don't blame them for dropping out. The only thing that can push you thru at this pace is having determination behind it. The three of us have that determination fueling us. Not allowing us to slow down. Adrenaline coursing thru our veins from the need to win and show the others who was better.

Male ego at its finest. We've always been competitive with each other. Always will be too I'm sure.

At the start of our final lap, a huge grin spreads across my face. I hear JJ breathe out "shit" as I surge past them. Its no holding back. I throw everything I have into my speed. Letting go of the frustration, anger, sadness, and worry I'm holding onto over what we might find with Cat. I let all those emotions fill my body to fuel it as I push myself to my absolute limits.

As I reached our starting mark, I notice Les and JJ are battling for who will come in second and that they are almost half a lap behind me. I slow down to a jog for a final lap to cool down. After my lap I walk over to where all the other guys are sitting and start to stretch out my muscles. Hoping to limit the aching I will most definitely be feeling later.

After JJ and Les finish their cool down lap they come over and sit down next to me to do their stretches.

"Getting slow in your old age there big brother." I tease JJ.

"Well it was bound to happen sooner or later. Just wait young pup you'll get yours one day." The sad thing I know he's right about that. One day I will be slowing down too. But not anytime soon.

JJ stands up and addresses everyone in the room. "Alright guys get cleaned up and report to the galley for chow. After your finished go about your normal duties. Hawk your up on Cole's training for today correct?"

"Yes sir, today would be swords training." Replies Hawk.

JJ nods then turns back to the rest of the guys, "Dismissed!"

I can't help but wonder who this Cole guy is. I know there are many people around here that I don't know yet but his name has been brought up a couple times as if someone important.

We head off to clean up and then head towards to the galley. About halfway there I tell JJ I'm gonna go get Steph up to eat since I let her sleep this morning.

"No need little brother. Seems she ran into Sean and is in the galley already eating." He said as we reached the doorway to the galley pointing into the room towards where Steph was sitting.

I grab my food and head over to sit next to Steph. "Babe." I say as my way of saying good morning.

"Morning Batman. Doing ok this morning?" She says in between mouth fulls of her eggs.

I nod yes to her. "Your up early."

She shrugs and replies, "new place plus I didn't want to sleep too much since I know there's a lot of ground to cover in finding your friend."

I lean over and kiss her on the side of her head and whisper my thanks to her. She nods and continues to eat her breakfast and I decide to follow suit.

As I'm finishing up my meal JJ walks over and sits next to me.

"After your guys are done I'll take you on a quick tour of the grounds to give you an idea of where everything's at. Then we'll get down to business in the command room. I talked to the Admiral in charge of our team and he said that I can give full disclosure to your group as long as they are members that you fully trust with this type of information."

I nod and tell him I do. We stand up and put our dishes away. I look towards my men and tilt my head towards the door telling them its time to go. They finish and we follow JJ up to the main floor of the house to begin the tour.


	8. Chapter 8

Disclaimer: Same as before. If you recognize them they're not mine. Enjoy please leave a review and let me know what you think. Thanks!

Ranger POV:

Looking around the upstairs room that we first came into upon arriving, I noticed a few things I didn't before. There's a second door next to he one we just came thru for the lower level. There's also a small alcove by the section of wall that opens for the command room. Normally if there's an alcove in a house setting there is a plant or some form of decoration there. This held nothing. I also noticed its about the same size as a doorway. Interesting. I wonder if that's another hidden door like the one for the command room.

The room was set up to look like a living room of a typical house would but I realize now its nothing more than that of a lobby. Hawk was very right. Looks can be deceiving around here that's for sure.

JJ told us he was going to go grab some keys real quick then we would head outside. With that he headed over to the alcove that I was just thinking about and disappeared from sight. I was right. It is another door. Just makes me wonder what else he has up his sleeves with this property.

JJ comes back into the room holding a couple different sets of keys and head towards the other door in the room. Walking thru the doorway puts us into a garage. I look around and can't help but feel a slight ting of jealousy towards the vehicles in here. There's only a few but damn are they nice. I'm not the only one who seems to think this by the sounds of the quick inhales and groans.

Lester walks over towards a small sports car and I can see his wanting just jump from him. "Shit JJ is this what I think it is? Please tell me this is yours and I get to drive it!"

JJ walks over to him, laughs and slaps him on his back, "Cuz you are looking into the beauty of an 2011 Aston Martin DBS. Fully loaded with all the bells and whistles you can possible get. I still get excited every time I come in here. Sadly it is not mine."

With that JJ tosses me a set of keys with a key fob on it. I look at him with a raise eyebrow asking what these are for.

"Hit the fob little brother and see what lights up in here."

I hit the button on the key fob and I hear the alarms for all vehicles in here beep off and the head lights flicker.

"The fob deactivates all the of them. There are different key codes you can hit for each individual vehicle. But it goes to this Aston Martin, the Hummer, the big Ford Raptor over there, the 69 Corvette Stingray, the Honda CBR 1100xx Super Blackbird, and also the Triumph Thunderbird Storm off on the far side. If you need to go somewhere, feel free to use them but just don't damage them otherwise you'll have to answer to Cat when shes back home. They're all hers. Come on lets go. There's a couple of Ranger ATV's outside we'll load up and check out the rest of the property." With that he heads out a door at the back of the garage.

I gave the vehicles another quick glance. I noticed they were all the same color. Midnight blue. I should've known they were Cats. That was always her favorite color.

Outside we loaded up into 3 different ATV's. They reminded me of the sand buggies I've had to use before on missions. After everyone was loaded up we headed off thru some trees that were at the back of the main house.

We come to a stop right in front of a couple of large steel buildings and unloaded. JJ hit a button on a key fob he had with his keys and a set of sliding steel doors opened on each of the buildings.

"These buildings contain all our vehicles, ground and air. The one in front of us as you can see holds our ground transportation. We mostly have Escalades but there are a few other SUV's in there that are personal ones of the guy's. The middle building is the repair shop. The building on the far end over there holds a few small planes and a hovercraft. Behind that building is also where the helicopter gets tarped down when not in use. All gear is stored in that building as well. Parachutes, climbing gear, camping gear, you get the point."

As we walk past each building for a quick glance in, Steph speaks up for the first time since breakfast.

"What do you need all this for?"

JJ just stops and stares at her for a moment with a cocked eyebrow.

"Let me guess its one of those if you told me you'd have kill my type things huh?" Steph asks.

JJ chuckles, "would you believe because I like big toys?" Then he just shrugs and heads back towards the ATV's.

We load back up in the vehicles and he brings us behind the steel buildings thru another small group of trees and stops in front of what looks to be a barn with a large fenced in area coming off each side. We unload and walk to the building and inside. Inside were six stalls with horses in them.

JJ walks over to a fridge in the corner and grabs some carrots out of it and walks back over to Steph.

"Do you like horses?" He asks her.

She looks over at the horse closest to us with hesitation in her eyes.

"I've never been around them." Comes her quiet reply. JJ grabs her hand and walks her over to the one she was looking at. He hands her a carrot and shows her how to feed it to the animal.

"This is Joker. He's the oldest out of the six we have. He just turned 18 years old last month. When Cat finally tracked down her parents, her dad was just about to get rid of him because he wouldn't let anyone near him. Phil, Cat's dad, did a lot of work with horses, so for him to have one he couldn't even get close to was pretty much a lost cause and would be better off in the wild. The day Cat went out to meet her parents, she saw him in the pasture and walked over to the fence. Joker slowly walked up to where Cat was standing. She dropped her head and he nosed the top of her head. Next thing you know the horse drops down on his front and put his head on her chest in a sign of submission. Phil saw the whole thing and decided then and there he was Cat's horse. Cat trained him well. He allows people to be around him and touch him but won't let anyone but her and Cole to ride him."

Steph nods and feeds the horse another carrot. Doesn't surprise me any that the horse took a liking to Cat. She always was good with animals. Always said that they were pure in mind, body, and soul.

The horse suck his head over the gate to his stall and nudged Steph. She let out a little giggle that made me smile.

"That's his way of saying he wants a hug Steph. Go ahead and hug his neck." States JJ.

She does just that and the horse drops his head a little bit down onto her back. "He really is beautiful JJ. The colors of his hair. I bet it looks like fire when he's running doesn't it?" She asks him while still hugging the horse.

"He's a Rocky Mountain Horse. That's a signature coloring in them. It does look like fire coming off his neck when he's running."

JJ pets the horse on the nose then says, "Alright Joker, we need to go. I'll send Cole out to visit you later."

He turns to us says the next area is just around the corner so we'll walk over there. After a short distance from the barn we come up to another building that you could hear dogs barking on the inside. I dropped my head and shook it with a big grin on my face. This was just like Cat. She always joked about training dogs. Steph noticed my actions and commented on them.

"Whats with the grin Batman?"

"In highschool, Cat always joked around with Lester and I about training dogs when she was older. 'One day boys you will see a Cat train a dog!' She got such a kick out of that because everyone called her Cat instead of Catalina."

I looked over at Les and he was laughing so hard he was holding onto the side of the building. He asked JJ the thing I was thinking about.

"JJ please tell me she didn't train them in Gaelic and that their not German Shepherds."

JJ nods yes with the same grin on his face as what Les and I were wearing. "Ya she did. At first I was clueless as to why she was so excited about it until she told me." With that both Lester and I start laughing hard. I think we shocked everyone with us because they were just staring. Steph asks what that's all about.

Once I got myself under control I tell her about Cat's warped thinking. "Along with the dog being trained by a cat came the thinking, not just any dog or any cat. But a Puerto Rican Cat training a German dog in yet another foreign language. She was fascinated with Ireland and the Celtic culture. So in highschool when everyone was forced to learn a foreign language, since we already spoke Spanish all the time, Cat wanted us to learn how to speak the native language of Ireland. Which is Gaelic."

JJ nods and smiles then continues to tell us about the dogs.

"Inside this building are 15 dogs. Three teams of five. Each team is made up of what we call enforcers and trackers. There are three enforcers and two trackers to each group. One of the teams is Cat's primary group. She's used them for help before on solo missions. She'll also use them to help train the other teams or to do training and demonstrations for different organizations such as police departments and such. The enforcers in the group are the dogs like you would see riding around helping police officers during take downs and such. They are trained attack dogs essentially. Trackers are just what the name states. They track the smell of things like drugs, weapons, or people."

JJ starts to walk towards the door and stops as if he has forgotten something. He turns toward us, "Just stay here for a minute. I need to let out Cat's group for their outside time. Whatever you do don't stick anything thru the fence. It won't be returned to you."

Not even a minute after JJ disappeared into the building, there are three very large dogs standing at the fence just staring at us. One of them in particular is staring directly into my eyes. I'm mesmerized by him. It feels as if he can see into my soul. I can't take my eyes off him. Its like he's trying to tell me he's alpha around here and his word is law. He's a huge dog. By my guess somewhere around 140 lbs.

JJ slaps me on the back, "I see you've met Peek. He got his name because as you've noticed, its almost like he's peeking into your soul when he stares at you. Those two are Tank and Diego, their the pack alphas. Tank takes a back seat until he feels the need to be dominate then he puts you in your place where you'll never forget. Diego is your typical alpha male. These are the three enforcers. The two back there are the trackers. Diesel the black and tan and Mack the black and white. When we find Cat, depending on the what the situation is, we might make use of Diesel. He'll actually listen to me, the others not so much."

I nod to him. I never thought of using a dog before to track. Might be very helpful once we find Cat. I pack that idea away for later. Now we need to get back to the command room and start the search to find Cat.

We head back to the main house and JJ tells us there's more to the house but we don't really need to see it. So it would be best to just head right into the command room. So that's what we do. Its time to start finding information on where Cat might be at.


	9. Chapter 9

Disclaimer: Same as before. If you recognize them they're not mine. Enjoy please leave a review and let me know what you think. Thanks!

Ranger POV:

Upon walking into the command room, I took notice of the amount of activity going on. There were at least six guys in here. All busy at the computers, printers working over time, keys of the keyboards clicking away a mile a minute. I raise a questioning eyebrow to my brother. He just shrugs his should in return then barks out at the guys just like I do to mine back in Trenton.

"Report!"

A guy I haven't met before stood up at attention to give his report. "Boss, I got the green light from the Admiral for full disclosure to the Rangeman crew. Copies of our last mission are currently being printed of for everyone for review. I had Cole's computer brought in here and hooked up so that the last check in and be reviewed as well if needed."

"Very well Timmons. Give me the mission reports so we can get started."

Timmons rushes over to the printers and grabs a stack of papers. Then passes one to everyone as we take seats around a large table set next to the command map.

JJ stands at the head of the table and starts describing the mission details to us while we read over the reports.

"It was a very straight forward mission in Argentina. Gather intel, find our mission target, rescue target and bring to extraction point. Cat was sent in a month before us to infiltrate the Domingez drug cartel that was suspected of holding our target. She was to gather as much inside intel as possible. The rest of our team had to gather intel from the locals. As much of it as possible. Everything went fine. She got in, we got our intel, found our target and got him out of dodge. Cat stayed back to make sure it didn't look to suspicious for her to disappear right after the target had been reported missing back to the leaders."

Glancing over the report I make a few quick mental notes about the cartel they were gathering intel on. I have worked on mission before dealing with a drug cartel out of Cuba that was the Domingez family. I wonder if they are of the same family. Its along shot but for Cat's sake I hope its not. They were a small cartel but what they lacked in size they made up for in terror. Held nothing back.

JJ walks over to the map and pulls up the view of Argentina. "This section here in the northern part of the country is where we were. Our last contact with Cat prior to extraction was in this area here at the base of the mountain range. Domingez set up shop here because of the rough terrain. Makes it harder to navigate without being detected. I have a team down there now trying to gather intel from the locals but it seems that no one is willing to talk. That's all I know at this point. I'll let you do your thing now. If you need something just ask. If I don't have it here I'll point you in the right direction."

I nod to him my understanding. Glancing over the report quickly once again before looking up at my team. "Hector I want you to go over the last contact broadcast that they received. See if you can figure out a way to track it." He stands up and Timmons shows him over to one of the computers on the far end of the room. I want to go with and watch it but I have other things that need to get done before I can allow myself to indulge in seeing what she looks like now.

"Cal, Woody, Ram, and Boots, I want you guys to gear up. Get lined up with Hawk. I want you in the country doing reconn. I'll ship any info we get to you. Remember low profile. They already have one person we don't need to be going after more." They stand up and walk to the door where Hawk is standing.

I look him in the eye and he gives a slight nod to me. Telling me he'll get them there.

"Tank, Bobby and Les, the name ring any bells for you guys?"

They glance down at the report and then look back up at me, eyes slightly wider than before.

"My thoughts exactly. Get a hold of any contacts that you can think of. Get as much intel as possible to see if they are of the same."

They nod and head off to different areas of the room to make their calls in semi privacy.

"Babe, I need you to work your magic on some searches. Put those spidey sense to work."

I quickly write down most of the names I remember from the mission in Cuba. Leave a few out for the time being. Those would have to be run from somewhere that is sure to never be tracked. I know they have alarms set to the names so that if they were ever looked into the person would be alerted.

"JJ I need a computer with search programs on it."

He leads up over to one of the desks and the guy who was using it gets up and leaves the room. "You can use this one. His shift was over anyways."

I sit Steph down at the desk and give her the list. "I need you to find anything and everything you can about these people. If you feel something is off, follow your gut. You've never been wrong before on that so just go with it."

She nods to me and looks up at me. "What are you going to be doing?"

"I need to make some phone calls just like I set Tank, Bobby, and Les to go do. But my phone calls I need complete privacy for. I'll be back after a little bit, I promise." I tell her and kiss the top of her head then turn to my brother.

"You have somewhere here that I can make some calls?"

He nods and walks over to the door. I follow him but before I head out thru the door I look back over at Steph. She's got her head down typing on the keyboard. She must have felt me looking at her because she looks up and smiles at me then gives me a little finger wave and gets back to work.

JJ leads me over to the alcove and puts his hand on a scanner just like the one for the command room.

"This section is Cat's house. The only people who have access in here are Cat, myself, Hawk, Sean and Cole. I'll get you put into the system so you may use her office when you need the extra privacy or just need a moment to yourself. Since you met Sean this morning at breakfast, I'm sure your wondering by now who Cole is. He is Cat's son. Shortly after you and Les left for the Army. Our idiot brother Armando decided that it was his turn to have her. He attacked her one night after she went home from work. Told her that since she put out for you and Les, it was his turn. That's why he's in prison. She pressed charges against him, went to court and he lost. They had found five others women that had raped. I can tell by the look in your eyes that our parents never told you why he was in prison."

I shook my head no. I had no clue. They would never tell me. Just that he had done some bad things. I could never really understand why they pushed all of us kids away after he went to prison but now I understand. They felt betrayed by all of us. They didn't want JJ and I to go into the military. It was that whole violence thing all over again. Add to that what Armando did. I can understand now.

The hallway opened up into a living room. There was a large tv on the wall in front of me, a stone fire place off to the right of the tv. A cream colored couch and recliner set off a little in front of them. Off to my right was a wet bar with a few stools set in front of it.

Off to my left it opend up into a dining room and kitchen. Granite table and counter tops. Stainless steel appliances and a dark cherry oak cabinets. In between where the kitchen and living room separated was another hallway that we walked down.

As we head down the hallway a little ways JJ stops in front of some pictures.

"About a month after the trial was over she found out she was pregnant. She called me up that night crying on the phone. I had never heard or seen her cry before so it was a bit of a shock. She asked if I could come over and talk. So I did. She told me about being pregnant with Armando's child. That she didn't know what to do. She felt all alone and was afraid she couldn't take care of herself and now a baby. I told her I would be there for her every step of the way."

I was looking at the pictures on the wall. They were of her and a baby basically growing up together. She looked so happy in all of the pictures. Walking a little further down the hall I counted ten different pictures of her son. Yearly school pictures and such I would guess.

At the end of the hallway there were two pictures that stopped me dead in my tracks. One was of Cat in her Navy uniform, boot camp picture. Hair pulled back in a bun. Dark blue dress uniform on. Milk chocolate eyes staring back a me. I felt like I did earlier staring at that dog. Like they were looking into my soul.

JJ noticed what picture I was looking at when I reached out to touch it.

"Right before she turned 18 we talked about her joining the Navy. Have a steady income and benefits for Cole."

I nodded my head. That sounded like her. She always had a steady head on her shoulders. Thinking towards the future. Making sure everything and everyone around her were taken care of. The next picture was the one that really tore at my heart. It was the picture that we took at my senior prom.

I was in my rented black tux with red vest and tie that matched her dress. She was standing next to me holding my hands. Her hair pulled back away from her face with two strands hanging down the sides of her face curled into ringlets. The ruby pendant I bought her with my first paycheck hanging down her neck. I remembered seeing her in her dress for the first time. I was speechless. Red silk that hung off her in a graceful flowing motion. Spaghetti string straps on her shoulders. The top dipped down the front in a V shape about halfway to her belly button showing the inside roundness to her breast. The back completely open exposing her toned muscles all the way down to the top of her small tight rear end. Dios was she ever beautiful! (_Dios-god_)

I had to force myself away from the pictures otherwise I would stand there looking at her forever.

As we passed a few doors JJ pointed out each one.

The first door on the right."This one is Cole's room. He's out with Sean right now. I'm not sure when they will be back but I'll make sure to introduce you to him at some point. He reminds me so much of how you three where when you were young all rolled into one person."

First on the left. "Bathroom if you need there's a bathroom off each bedroom and one if the office as well."

The next door was on the left. "This is Sean's room. They met up when Cat first met her parents shortly after Cole was born. Sean took to Cole instantly. Watching them together you would never guess they weren't related in some way."

I had a quick feeling of jealousy when JJ told me about Sean living up here and how close they all seem to be.

"I see that look in your eyes little brother. No there is nothing going on between them. Never was never will be except a good friendship. Sean takes care of Cole when Cat isn't around."

I nod my head in understanding and we move on. At the end of the hall JJ points to the door on the right, "that's Cat's room."

We turn and go in the room to the left. "This is her office. Its completely private. There's special insulation put into the walls so that any form of listening devices won't work. The windows are one way. You can't see in from the outside but from the inside you can see everything going on around this side of the house. The computer has every program known to man on it. Anything you would need to do you can do with it and it won't be traced."

I nod my understanding and look around the room. Its a nicely done office. Book shelves line with hard cover books. Swords and a few paintings of dragons hanging on the walls. A few pictures up on some other shelves hanging on the wall. The desk is a large executive style marble desk.

I can't help but think that Cat's done well for herself over the years. I turn to my brother with an eyebrow raised in a silent question of how this whole place came about.

He gives a slight shrug. "Cat's done well. She's played the stock market some. Taken on some missions that were practically impossible. Taken on a few other missions for things that most people would call questionable in nature. More for the fact getting an in with some of the not so legal organizations around to gain intel and such for our government. To gain a rep for herself so to speak. So not only did the government gain from her doing this but she did slight too in the money aspect of it."

I nod my understanding to him. And I do understand. Its exactly what I've done for myself and Rangeman over the years.

JJ walks over and sits down at the desk. He pulls out the keyboard and opens up a program then pulls what looks like a scanner out of a locked drawer on the desk.

"Come put your hand on this so I can get you in the system. That way you can come and go as you feel so. I trust you not to fuck anything up. If Cat has a problem with it when we get her back I'll deal with her don't worry." He chuckles at the last.

I walk over and the little pad scans my hand. I feel it to heat up slightly before it shuts down. I'm not sure what that was about so I ask.

"The heating up was to read the pressure behind your hand. The scanners do a couple of different scans at the same time. Its to make sure someone isn't forcing you to scan your hand. It scans your finger prints, hand temperature, and also the pressure amount. If anything is changed on those it rejects the scan and won't open up. Cat takes the security around here very serious since this is where Cole sleeps at night."

I'm impressed by the technology of the place but its understandable after what her life has thrown at her to pull out all the stops when it comes to her own child.

JJ stands up and walks towards the door. Before leaving he turns and tells me that when I'm done with my calls either page him or I could find my way back now that I was in the system and could navigate around.

With that I sit down at the desk. Give a quick glance around the room. I grab some paper and found a pen. Its time to start harassing my informants for anything and everything they know.


	10. Chapter 10

Disclaimer: Same as before. If you recognize them they're not mine. Enjoy please leave a review and let me know what you think. Thanks!

Ranger POV:

I slam my phone down on the desk. How can this be? Almost eight hours worth of phone calls and not one lead. No one knows anything and if they do know something they aren't talking.

The closest I came to a lead was while I was talking to General Hallcom. He said that he felt as if there might be a leak somewhere in the chain of command. He couldn't tell me anything other than that.

This isn't looking good. If we can't find a lead from someone.. No I will not think like that. It won't happen.

I take a deep breath to calm my frustration before I head back towards everyone else. I can't let them see me this way. It will do no good for anyone. I can only hope that they had better luck than I did with their information.

I get back to the command room and I see the guys are still on their phones, Steph and Hector are still sitting at the computers. I walk over to Steph to see how she's doing.

I rub her shoulders a little as I stand behind her. She looks up and smiles at me. I give her my almost there smile in return and nod towards the computer silently asking if she's found anything.

She shakes her head no. "I haven't really found anything that sets off any kind of alarms. I mean, I've found plenty to know these guys are complete slim balls. Charges filed then dropped. Stuff like that. But no kind of connections to anything to do with Argentina in any way. A few strings that lead to Mexico and some in Florida but nothing other than that."

I nod. "Show me what is hooked with Florida."

She pulls up the report on a guy and points to his picture. "This guy here. Chico Merreno, was charged with a few drug dealing charges in Miami a couple months back. Charges were dropped. I can't find anything as to why they were dropped but they were. He's married to a Monica maiden name Newport from the D.C area."

I lightly squeeze her shoulders and kiss the top of her head. "Good job Babe. Keep looking."

I look over and see that the guys are done with their phone calls so I walk over to them to get a report.

Lester and Bobby report about the same thing I found out. Nobody wants to talk.

"Looks like they are the same group as Cuba. The old man is still in charge of Cuba but his three kids broke off to other areas. Expand the empire but yet keep it on a smaller scale just like the old man did with the home area. The eldest is the one they were gathering intel on in Argentina. The other two are twins. Talk is one male one female but no one knows anything else about them." Comes Tank's report.

I nod and think over what Tank and Steph had found. Its not much but I have a hunch.

"Hallcom thinks there might be a leak in the chain of command somewhere. He has no proof but he's never been wrong before so I'm leaning towards believe that's the case. Steph found a link between Chico Merreno and a woman from D.C."

"Hey what was old man Dominic last wife's name? She didn't take Dom's last name when they married." Comes from Bobby.

I sit back in a chair trying to remember the wife. I really couldn't remember because she wasn't our focus of the mission. Dominic was the main intel target. I know what Bobby is thinking. Its a long shot but so is everything else we have to go on at the moment.

I turn towards Steph, "Babe. Check out Merreno and Newport a little more. See if you can find me parent names for them."

I glance at the clock and notice its a little after 6pm.

"Alright lets take a short break and get something to eat. I have a few more calls to make tonight. The guys should be touching down in a few hours from now. I want you guys to contact your informants in Miami and also Mexico. Steph found some leads to both of those places so for the time being we'll assume that's where Dom's other two brats are at."

They nod and head for the galley. I walk over to Steph and set my hands back on her shoulders.

"Come on Babe. Lets go get something to eat. You can come back in here later while I have a few phone calls to make."

As she's closing down the search programs her stomach makes its opinions known.

I chuckle a little, "Babe." She just shrugs her shoulders with a little sheepish look on her face. I know she can't help it. I just find it amusing that you mention food and the beast within makes its opinion clear on the topic.

I give my head a brief shake and grab her hand to head down to the galley.

We sit down with our food and Les decides to join us. As we're eating I look over at Steph and notice she's deep in thought. So I decide to break the ice a little bit see if she'll let me know what she's thinking.

"Babe I know its not Ella's cooking but come on its not that bad."

She looks up at me with a lost expression, "huh? Oh … no I was just thinking."

"Alright so what's going on in the head of yours?"

"I don't know why but something is bothering me about those dropped charges. I've never had a problem finding out before why something was dropped. But with these there's just nothing anywhere about a why."

I nod to her, "after we're done eating we'll go somewhere and talk it through. I have a theory. But until we can get some proof its just a theory."

"Ok. Are you going to tell me a little bit more tonight about Cat?"

I nod yes to her then catch JJ's eyes with a lift of my chin silently telling him I need to ask him something. He comes over to us and I ask him if I can take Steph and Les into Cat's side of the house. I want to Les to see the pictures and tell him the little bit of information JJ told me about Armando. I also want somewhere private to tell my theory to them. I don't want anyone else to know it before we have proof otherwise it might cause some major trouble.

He said he was cool with that as long as we don't destroy anything.

After we were all finished eating, I brought them back upstairs to Cat's part of the house.

As we come up to the entrance into this side of the house I can see the question in Steph's eyes when the scanner opens the door for us.

"JJ brought me over here this morning when I needed the privacy for my phone calls. He put me in the system so I could come and go when I needed to. I figured I would bring us over here so that I was sure there were no other ears listening to my theory."

She seems to accept that and we keep move on.

As we pass down the hallway with the pictures, Les stops and looks at them just like I had. I knew he would need a minute to look at them so I told him I was going to bring Steph down to the office and I would be back to talk to him in a minute.

Steph is looking at all the pictures as well but I can see they just don't quite hold her interest as they would for Les and myself. That is until she gets to the picture of Cat and I.

She looked at the picture then at me. She did that a couple times and finally she asked, "is that you?"

"Yes. That was taken the night of my senior prom." I look over the picture again and allow a moment to remember that night.

"You two look like you were in love."

I nod, "we were." I start to head into the office and she follows me. I sit down to boot up the computer.

"What happened?"

I look over at her and know I'll have to get into this a little bit later but for now I'll give her a simple answer. "I was stupid and ran out on her. Come here. I want you to do a couple searches for me while I go talk to Les. This connection is secured and can't be traced. Do a search for Dominic Domingez. I want you to look for his last wife. When they married she never took on his last name. I think she is Chio Merreno's mother. I also want you to look for the father to Monica Newport. I'll be back in a few minutes. I'm going to talk to Les real quick."

She nods her head to me and gets to work. I head out the door to find my cousin.

I found Lester still in the hallway looking at the pictures. He looks at what I can only guess to be the newest picture of Cole then looks at me.

"Cat has a son? He looks just like you. Is he yours?"

I shake my head no. "According to JJ, shortly after we shipped off to boot camp, Armando raped her. She reported it and they went to trial. By the end of the trial they had found five other women that he had raped as well. I knew he went away because of abuse of some sort but I didn't know it was that. JJ said a couple months after the trial Cat found out she was pregnant and called him up crying. That's how they got lined up together I guess.

Les nods his head while saying, "I can see that. If you or I weren't around she would try to find JJ. Said she felt safe with him if we weren't there. Shit he looks just like you though. Maybe a little bigger than you were at that age. He has to be what about ten now?"

"Ya somewhere around there." I continue to look at the picture of Cole and have to agree with Les. He does look just like I did at that age.

I'm broken from my thoughts by Les letting out a low whistle. I turn to look at him and he's looking at the prom picture just like Steph and I did.

"Man that night was the best. I remember it so well. That fucking red dress filled many of fantasies for me, and those shoes. They made her legs look a mile long through the slit in her dress. I couldn't believe how much more height they gave her. They took her from what about 5'4 to almost eye level with us. I couldn't understand how she could walk in them but she did. She did it with grace just like everything else she did." Came from Lester as he was touching the picture lost in his memories just as I had done earlier when I first saw it.

"Ya it was definitely a night to remember that's for sure. Come on. I've got Steph on the computer in here looking up some info on Dom and Chico's lovely wife." I turn and head into the office with Les following behind me.


	11. Chapter 11

Disclaimer: Same as before. If you recognize them they're not mine. Enjoy please leave a review and let me know what you think. Thanks!

Ranger POV:

When we walked into the office Steph was busy reading something so I figured I would give her just a few more minutes to finish up what she was reading before asking what she found. I walked over to the sliding glass doors on the far wall and look out into the yard.

I need to figure out exactly how to go about things if my suspicion is correct.

I turn just slightly so I can still see Les and Steph out of the corner of my eyes. Les is wandering around the room looking at the pictures. I see Steph turn around and face us so she must be done with what she was reading. I head over to a chair in front of the desk and take a seat.

"What did you find Babe?"

"Well you were right on Dominic's last wife being the mother to Chico Merreno. When they married her children were around the age ten. One boy and one girl. The father of her children was killed in a vehicle accident a little over a year prior to Dominic and Maria getting married. That was almost 15 years ago now. The daughters name is Anna and her last known sighting that I can find is in the southern tip of Mexico."

I nod to her to keep going. That answers who our other two children are and where they branched the Domingez family line off to.

"Chico married and Monica Newport married three years ago in Miami where they are currently still living. Monica Newport, born and raised in the D.C area approximately 23 years of age. Father Gerald Newport and mother Emily Newport. Father is an Admiral in the Navy. Has served for going on 31 years now. Emily stayed at home with Monica, no job history for her. I haven't gotten into their finances yet for the Newport's but I was able to pull up some pictures and information on their home outside of D.C. I'm not sure how much he should be making in the Navy but has to have something else to help with the income. His home and property we're talking multi-million dollar investment."

I take in this information for a minute. I'm pretty positive Steph just found the Generals leak. Now we just need to confirm it. Owning a large house doesn't prove anything other than smart investments.

"Alright here's my theory. The General told me he thinks there's a leak somewhere. I think Steph just found it, Admiral Newport. With his son-in-law being the step son of Dominic Domingez, he gets a small cut of profits for helping the family business stay under the radar. He either didn't know about the mission until the last minute or held off until the last minute because of an attack of conscience. However, he leaked the info about the mission at some point before Cat got out of the area. I'm going to contact the General again to see if he can tell me anything about Newport. I don't want to bring it to JJ until we know for sure. Less chance for it to get back to Newport since the branch higher ups don't normally mingle in the same circles much."

"I think there might be a bit more going on Ranger. Didn't JJ say that the group had been out of the country for almost two weeks before the last contact was made by Cat?" Steph asks me.

I nod to her in confirmation wondering where she might be going with this.

"Well if everyone was already reported back except for her. It sounds like the mission was compromised after it was already done. Meaning she was set up specifically. That its more than just trying to keep the cartel under the radar but to get her out of the picture completely."

I lean forward and rest my elbows on my knees, hands folded under my chin. Steph has a good point. If the mission was reported as complete prior to Cat going missing, then leaked information would mean it was a direct threat to Cat. If information wasn't leaked then it just means she was in the right spot at the wrong time and got herself caught.

I grab my cell phone and call the General. He picks up after the second ring.

Before I can say anything, "Its a beautiful night for a stroll isn't it?" comes his voice.

I knew this was his way of telling me that he was not secure and the conversation would be in code. I put the phone on speaker so that Steph and Les can hear as well.

"It sure is a nice one out." My way of telling him I understand.

"I'm sure your looking for a beautiful young lady to enjoy on this stroll am I correct?"

"For the most part yes. I was wondering if you could tell me who I could contact if I wanted to take her to go swim with the seals. She loves the water in the south greatly."

"Hmm I might have someone you could talk to. Pardon me while I lite up a Newport. A nasty habit I know but one that stays around I know. Well I better go my lovely woman here is feeling a little neglected. I will call you if I find anything about going swimming with them. Have a good night my boy."

I close my phone and look over at Les. I can see murder raging behind his eyes. He understood the message as well.

I look over at Steph. I can tell she has no clue what that call was all about and doesn't wait to question it.

"What the hell was that about? I thought we were trying to find information about your friend and your asking about going swimming?"

I laugh a little at her innocence. Sometimes I tend to forget she's not a part of this side of our world.

"It was in code Babe. Well sort of I guess. Beautiful night for a stroll was the General's way of telling me he wasn't in a secure spot and it had to be questioned carefully. I told him I understood. Beautiful young lady to enjoy on the stroll was his way of asking if I was questioning about Cat. I told him yes and that I was looking for information as to who I would contract in regards to her team. He told me Newport. That he's not a good guy but still around. Since I went to him about that instead of JJ he knew I was also telling him that I thought he might be the leak."

She nods her head and sits in silence for a moment. She looks up at me and I see the light bulb go off telling me that she completely understood now.

"So the commander of Cat's team would be a guy named Newport. Which I'm guessing would be a certain Admiral Gerald Newport. Alright so where do we go from here?" She questions.

"We bring JJ down here to fill him in along with Tank and Bobby. I don't want anyone else to hear just yet."

With that I grab the phone on the desk and call JJ asking come down to Cat's office and to bring Tank and Bobby with him.

I figured that Les could tell them what we had figured out. It was time to talk to Steph again. So I asked Les if he could do just that. He agreed. I grabbed Steph's hand to pull her out of the chair, "Lets go talk outside Babe."

I had noticed there was a swing outside the office on a deck so I brought Steph over to sit down on it.

"Alright Babe I know you have questions. What do you want to know first?"

She's quiet for a moment then asks what happened between Cat and I.

"When we were in highschool, it got out around school what had happened before I found her. The kids weren't nice to her. So she started rebelling. Getting into trouble for defending herself for the most part. My parents came down hard on her for all the trouble she would get into at school even though none of it was really her fault. At the beginning of my senior year, dad pulled her out of school for good. He said he wasn't going her to ruin our name within the school system. He said she was smart enough she could take the test and get her GED instead of finishing off school. Dad told her that since she wasn't in school anymore she could pull her own weight around the house. Doing more chores and helping out with the bills. Which meant she had to get a job."

"She had a hard time finding someone who would let her work since she was only 15 at this point. When she wasn't able to find a job after a month Dad came down harder on her. Telling her it didn't matter what she did as long as she did something to bring in money. That if she didn't find something soon she would find herself without a home. When she told me what he said about the money I started to worry. I didn't want to think what she might resort to doing just to keep a roof over her head. One of her biggest fears she could never get past was being alone without a home again."

"About a week later she started being gone all the time. She would be gone before I got up for school and wouldn't get home until two or three in the morning. Two months of this went on. Same thing day in day out. I never saw her very much anymore. I missed my best friend so I told Momma about it. She was worried too. She told me to skip school one day and follow her. Find out exactly what she was doing. So that's what I did. I skipped the next day and followed her."

"In the morning she was basically a courier, but only it wasn't for businesses. It was for one of the local gangs. That afternoon I saw her selling shit. From small jewelery to drugs to sexual favors to people. Later that night I followed her to an old parking garage. They had a street fighting ring set up. I stood off to the side of the ring and watched as she kicked the shit out of some guy who was more than twice her size. I knew she could fight because we had been learning boxing and mixed martial arts since we were ten. Momma let us and kept it a secret from Dad since he was so against anything of the nature."

"I was so horrified at the things Cat was doing just to keep Dad off her back about helping with money. It wasn't even like they needed the extra money either. I went home and thought about all that I had seen during the day. I was worried beyond belief for Cat. I didn't want any of that for her. To me she was still the scared little girl I found in the alley way."

"When she came home that night I confronted her about what I saw and asked her why she was doing it. The only answer I got back from her as a shrug of her shoulder. When I pushed some more she said 'look I'll do whatever I have to in order to stay here with you. If your father says I need to make money to give to him to do so then I'll make it any way I can. If that means selling myself for someone else's pleasure and getting into a few fights then so be it. At least I'll have a home to come home to at the end of the night.' I couldn't believe what she was willing to do just to stay here. It wasn't like it was just the house that she was doing it for. It was because I was there."

"Over the next couples I would push for her to quit what she was doing. I couldn't stand the thought of it. She would keep telling me that she would as soon as she had enough money saved up to last her until she was past her 16th birthday and be able to get a real job somewhere."

"Valentines day she gave me my wish. She told me she had stopped doing everything except for the courier work two weeks prior. She finally had enough saved up that she felt comfortable enough to just live off of for awhile. I was so happy that I told her I was taking her out for the night. Since my parents never expected her home at night anymore they wouldn't notice. I had picked up a job as a bag boy at the store down the street so I had a some spending money."

"So I took her out to dinner at a restaurant. Neither one of us wanted to go home yet so I said screw it. We went across town and I rented us a hotel room for the night since I was 18. One thing led to another and that was the first night we had sex. She showed me things I never thought was possible. I still didn't like the fact of how she learned all this stuff but well I was a horny teenage boy."

"After that we were inseparable when I wasn't at school or work. We slept in the same bed. Some nights we had sex some we didn't. It was a week before Prom and Les walked in on us. He was so pissed off. That week Cat and I talked about Prom and the issues with Les. At first she didn't understand why he was so upset. I told her the reason was, was because he wanted her just as I did."

"Cat brought up the idea of inviting Les to join us. At first I wasn't so sure about it and I told her that. She pointed out that we were always doing everything else together why not go one step further. She told me she wouldn't say anything to him. That it was completely my call because she didn't want to do anything I wasn't comfortable with. She would never do something I didn't want. By the end of the week I was enthralled with the idea. I wanted to see if she could handle both of us."

"Cat went with me to Prom and Les had brought some girl from our school that I really didn't know. He really wasn't interested in her he just didn't want to go alone. About halfway through the night I approached him with the idea. Told him about how I had rented a hotel room for the night and that if he wanted to join in the fun he was welcome to. That it was actually Cat's idea to start with to invite him with us."

"At first he had some reservations about it. Which I understood because I had the same when Cat and I first started talking about it. But he did decide to join us. He left his date and came to the hotel room. That was the first of many times that she shared her. Had it been anyone else laying a finger on them I probably would've killed the guy. But it was Les which I was cool. I trusted him."

"After I graduated, Cat and I got a two bedroom apartment. One room for her and one for me. However she spent most nights in my room. She managed to get a job as a waitress at a little Cuban restaurant shortly after turning 16. "

"The next year went pretty well. We both worked. Les would come over and either spend the night or just hang out. There were times that we got into rough spots. Whenever she was in trouble it was almost like I could feel it inside me. She said she could feel it whenever I was in trouble. We were always there for each other during those times. It was really odd and I couldn't understand it. So over the year we grew closer to each other."

"A couple of times Les and I had gotten into long conversations about needing to find something to do with ourselves. We tossed around the idea of going to college and even going into the Army. The night of Cat's 17th birthday I wanted to do something special for her. So I cooked a nice candle lit dinner for her. We ate then spent the rest of the night having sex."

"As she was falling asleep, she curled up as close to me as possible and I heard a whispered 'I love you Los". I froze. We had never said I love you before. It was just something we never touched on. Almost like it was taboo. I woke up the next morning scared as shit. I didn't know how to deal with it. After she left for work I thought about it more and more. I knew I must have loved her back. It was the only thing to describe how I felt towards her. But the more I thought about it the more I realized I needed her. Almost like the need for air. That really scared me. I didn't like needed anyone or anything. It scared me enough that I went down to the recruiters office and got all the paperwork filled out for myself. I took home paperwork for Les as well and filled it out for him. Before I had left the recruiters office the guy told me all I needed to do was bring back the paperwork signed and that the next bus to boot camp left the morning after next."

"When I got home I packed a bag and wrote out a letter to Cat. I hid it all in the closet so she wouldn't find it before I left. That night I didn't just have sex with her. I made love to her over and over again. I put every emotion and feeling I had within into it. To show her how I felt even though I knew I would break her heart in less than 12 hours. After she feel sleep I held onto her for awhile. Thinking over what I was about to do. I knew I shouldn't do it but I just couldn't help it. The feelings she stirred up in me scared me so much."

"I gave her one last kiss and then left. I ran over to Les' parents house where he was still living and drug him out of bed. We just barely managed to catch the bus that took us to boot camp. I left my heart in bed with Cat that night and tried to not look back. So I threw myself into the Army. Pushed as hard as possible to be the best that I could in hopes of forgetting what I had done. The harder time I had dealing with failing her just like everyone else the harder I pushed myself. Eventually I was able to just shut down. That's how I got to be the way I was when I met you. Emotionless, closed off, and all about the job."

I was silent for a while waiting to see how Steph would react to all that I told her. I stood up and walked over to the railing, resting my arms on it and dropped my head. Feeling ashamed for the first time in many years. Remember how I had done the one thing I promised to never do. I failed Catalina. I got scared, turned my back and ran from her.

Steph paced the deck for a few minutes. I could see from the corner of my eye she was trying to gather her thoughts before saying anything.

Finally she must have figured out what she wanted to say because she stopped her pacing and turned towards me.

"Is that why you told me you don't do relationships? Because you don't want to take the chance of falling in love again and getting scared?"

I didn't move from my spot as I answered her.

"That's part of it. There's many different reasons that go into it really. I live a very dangerous life. If I were to start an actual romantic relationship, something more than just friendship with benefits, I would need to know that they can take care of themselves if something should happen. That they can handle themselves if I'm not around. I don't work a normal 9-5 job and I get called out at all hours of the night. I also get called away for missions where I have to leave within a very short amount of time and might not come back for months if ever. But if I'm honest with myself and with you, the main reason is because my heart still belongs to that 17 year old spitfire of a woman. I can't even call her a girl because she was forced to grow up way to early. Until I can confront that and move on in whatever direction, I don't think its possible for me to ever be truly in love with another."

I knew she wouldn't like my answer but it was the honest truth. I guess I wasn't sure what reaction I would get from her after she heard that but I don't think I was expecting what I got when I turned around.

She was standing there looking at her feet.

"So what was I? Just a stand in until you found her? Someone to kill the time with? You told me you loved me, so what am I to you?" She looks up at me and I can see the tears building in her eyes.

I walk over to hear and pull her into my arms.

"Steph, don't think for a minute you were a stand in or someone to kill the time. Yes I told you I loved you, but if you remember I also told you I wasn't in love with you. Your one of my best friends. I never lied to you about anything. I've always told you how it had to be. What we have is as much as I can give you. I can't be the guy who is madly in love with you and only you. I don't know if I will ever be able to be that guy for you. I do want you to be happy more than anything. If you find a guy who does that for you then please don't lose the chance because your waiting around for me. I hope you can understand that."

I feel her nod against my chest and I hear her sniffle a little so I know she lost the hold she had on the tears.

She takes a step back from my arms and nods again. "Your right. You've never lied to me and have always told me that what you could give is what you already were giving. I guess I just never wanted to accept that. I was holding out hope that maybe you would change your mind. I guess in a way I was doing to you what Joe did to me for so long. Wanting you to change and I'm sorry for that."

With that said she starts to walk towards the steps off the deck. "Steph where are you going?" "I just need a little bit to myself Ranger. I promise I won't be gone long."

I want to go after her but I feel a hand on my shoulder holding me back. I look up and see Les standing next to me.

"Let me go talk to her Los." He claps me on the shoulder then follows after her.


	12. Delay due to storm

I wanted to apologize for having to delay postings to my stories. With Hurricane Irene looming over us, I'm packing my son and I up and heading out of the area for awhile. I hope everyone who will be affected by the hurricane will stay safe and secure. Thanks for reading and enjoying my writing. Once again I apologize for the delay.

~Kat 


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